Blazing Speed - does it hold its own?

[Deleted]

I've been on the beta for a couple months now, if I recall correctly, and for the most part I've been playing my mage doing pvp.

I cannot, for the life of me, find any redeeming quality to blazing speed when compared to either of its option talents - Temporal Shield and Ice Barrier. It has the same cooldown, it has a very short duration and if you're walking on a straight line it probably takes you about as far as a blink would, except without the instant travel or the stun break. I cannot find a good scenario for having it in pvp. I cannot think of a good scenario for having it in pve (you can always blink away from "the fire").

Has any mage come across a situation where blazing speed would be a superior option to either of the other two?


and still on the topic of bad talents, is ice ward any good? I can imagine some decent setups for it, like putting it on the tank for pve or setting it on a teammate being tunneled in pvp, but compared to the other two talents it still seems objectively inferior, particularly ring of frost.

Thanks for any insight.

[Imnick]

I was considering using it for levelling until I saw the duration, can't think I personally am likely to use it for much in PvE or PvP.

[Elodeon]

I would consider it if the duration was at least 4 seconds, and if there was something like a Mana Shield to go with it. But with no more Mana Shield, and a 1.5 second duration? LoL.

[halfawake]

So I picked it up for h rag last night hoping to use it in the last phase when putting out dreadflame, alas I forgot there would be no damage going out to proc it : / ... I kept it anyway and used it a few times to dodge world in flame/flame waves... but to me with that long of a cooldown it should be changed to a flat 25 second cooldown with no damage necessary to proc it. Considering it's going up against ice barrier, I don't think that would be op.

edit: it actually might have saved me a few times when I lagged behind on world in flames that ice barrier absorb would not have protected me from, so I guess there's that... also used it to run away from the seed add that stayed up as world in flames came up.. Can't remember now but if it doesn't have a gcd, it might be useful for those type of situations whereas ice barrier is a gcd and a small dps loss :P

[Methusula]

So I picked it up for h rag last night hoping to use it in the last phase when putting out dreadflame, alas I forgot there would be no damage going out to proc it : / ... I kept it anyway and used it a few times to dodge world in flame/flame waves... but to me with that long of a cooldown it should be changed to a flat 25 second cooldown with no damage necessary to proc it. Considering it's going up against ice barrier, I don't think that would be op.

edit: it actually might have saved me a few times when I lagged behind on world in flames that ice barrier absorb would not have protected me from, so I guess there's that... also used it to run away from the seed add that stayed up as world in flames came up.. Can't remember now but if it doesn't have a gcd, it might be useful for those type of situations whereas ice barrier is a gcd and a small dps loss :P

Depending on the rate of incoming damage, Ice Barrier can be a small dps INCREASE. We get 70% passive pushback protection but we no longer have Concentration Aura to fill in the final 30%. Ice Barrier prevents pushback while active. The amount of damage it absorbs is pretty nice too.

[halfawake]

ya true I forgot about that Methusula

[Windry]

I think Blazing Speed is a clear winner for leveling/farming. It activates when you do a killing blow. Just alternating between blink and blazing speed, I pretty much always have a sprint after killing a mob.

I'm sure Blazing Speed will have raid usage as well. White Tile duty on Stone Guardians for example comes to mind.

[Firebert]

Has any mage come across a situation where blazing speed would be a superior option to either of the other two?

Getting your Ice Barrier Spellstolen isn't a nice feeling.

[Frah]

Its under rated and overlooked. Movement is one of the biggest dps losses you can have. Temporal shield offers 0 dps. Ice barrier needs to mitigate over 3 spell pushbacks in order to be a dps gain (will often be broken by 3). Blazing speed can reduce large movement thus increase dps. Most people including myself are used to using blink for long mobility however blink is 1GCD that could have been damage. With blazing speed you can travel the same distance as blink while using that GCD for dps.

[Deleted]

Getting your Ice Barrier Spellstolen isn't a nice feeling.

Against mages and other offensive dispellers you shouldn't have it up all the time anyway, just pop it when you see damage incoming.

With blazing speed you can travel the same distance as blink while using that GCD for dps.

you'll be stuck casting a scorch or icelance (or pom/ice flows your casts, I guess) while moving. In any case, is it expectable that you'll have blazing speed active for when you need to move out of something? Since it does have activation conditions - ie: taking some damage.

In any case, thanks for all the replies, I now see that a lot of people find potential in it. I just really felt like the talent was lackluster, but no more complaints from me

[Soulstrike]

Getting your Ice Barrier Spellstolen isn't a nice feeling.

heh imagine what pally will think when we steal their wings XD

[Pool of the Dead]

heh imagine what pally will think when we steal their wings XD

Avenging wrath is Un-stealable now, take THAT every mage i've fought for 2 expansions that stole my wings everytime I used them

[Illunis]

Avenging wrath is Un-stealable now, take THAT every mage i've fought for 2 expansions that stole my wings everytime I used them

So, sheep you during them now is what I heard.

Also, OT: Blazing speed would be good if you're going to sustain more than 50k damage in the next 2 seconds, unless you can get out of range. Beyond that, I wouldn't take it over temporal or ice barrier.

[Deleted]

it is quite situational, 150% speed is a a lot, more than being mounted

the acceleration and the duration are set up in a way that makes me think that they want you to cover the maximum distance in the briefest amount of time.
the brief duration also means that it require more skill from your opponent (in PvP) to make you waste the CD with stuns or disorient since the timeframe is very short

if the duration was longer probably the speed would be shorter, but you could get a stun or disorient and waste 3/4 of those seconds (if you do not have blink or other CD available)

I think that this is along the line of the designers idea with it.

An example of similar CD but with longer duration is the Monk tier 1 talent Tiger Lust

[Frah]

you'll be stuck casting a scorch or icelance (or pom/ice flows your casts, I guess) while moving. In any case, is it expectable that you'll have blazing speed active for when you need to move out of something? Since it does have activation conditions - ie: taking some damage.

Well you have plenty GCD spells to move with (2 of the bombs, inferno blast, pyro, brain freeze, arbar, and so on) its preferable to use your normal GCD rotation spells during movement rather than the low dps scorch. If you are moving a bigger distance than you can normally under rotational GCDs then this speed boost might make you able to make the distance.

Its only 2% of your hp if someone in your raid farts next to you it will proc the ability :P

Ill be trying it on monday in DS heroic raid to see what it feels like.

[Deleted]

The prerequisite of damage taken or a killing blow ruins the talent imo. I don't understand why it has been added when the talent is arguably considerably worse than the other two options. It would hardly make blazing speed overpowered if it was usable whenever (make the cooldown 30sec over 25 if its such a big deal).