6.0 Mage Speculation & Paranoia

[Polarthief]

Please note, all information, is in the Alpha-Early Beta stage and is subject to change at any given moment!

Mage (non-spec) Information

• MANY spells have become spec specific or flat out removed in the Pruning War.
  
  • Fire Blast is replaced by Arcane Barrage or Ice Lance, in addition to Inferno Blast (so essentially removed).
  • Frostfire Bolt removed from Arcane.
  • Arcane Explosion is now Arcane-only.
  • Blizzard is now Frost-only.
  • Deep Freeze is once again Frost-only (despite Combustion supposedly 'replacing' Deep Freeze for Fire Mages... Typo?).
  • Cone of Cold is now Frost-only (though according to the blog, it may have only been removed from Fire. It mentions nothing about it being removed from Arcane. Assuming typo).
  • Evocation is now Arcane-only (Fire and Frost won't really have much to do with Mana, though this does hurt Fire/Frost self-healing).
  • Flamestrike is now Fire-only.
  • Mage, Molten, and Frost Armor are now all passive and exclusive to their respective specs (they have also gotten changed a bit. More on that in the spec-specific information section below!).
  • Ice Lance is now Frost-only.
  • Mana Gem has been removed.
  • Shatter is now Frost-only.
  • Mirror Image has become a new L90 talent.
  • Alter Time has become a new L30 talent.
  • Temporal Shield has been removed.
• A new Raid Cooldown spell has been added called Amplify Magic.
  
  • Amplify Magic increases your party/raid's healing received by 20% for 6s. 2m cooldown.
• New Polymorph: Peacock
  
  • Monkey, Penguin, and Bear Cub may turn into full-fledged Polymorph spells, rather than just being glyphs [PURE speculation based on Alpha Build 18164]
    
    • Speculation pays off. The glyphs above are now spells as speculated. (Source: Front-Page of MMO 4/23)
• Glyph of Evocation being changed to Glyph of Ice Block. You now heal every second while in Ice Block
  
  • There will likely be an Evanesce-version that is weaker, but nothing has been confirmed on that

Arcane

• Presence of Mind is now a baseline, Arcane-only spell.
  
  • PoM cannot be used to make Polymorph instant. Outside of that, PoM remains unchanged.
• Arcane Blast's cast time has been increased to 2.25s (up from 2s) and damage increased by 12.5%
  
  • Arcane Blast also gets its old cast time reduction effect back from Burning Crusade, but added as a Perk.
• Arcane Charges now last 15s (up from 10s).

Arcane Perks

1. Enh Arcane Blast: Each Arcane Charge decreases the cast time of Arcane Blast by 5%.
2. Enh Arcane Missiles: Arcane Missile procs can now stack to 3 up from 2.
3. Imp Arcane Barrage: The cleave damage of Arcane Barrage is now 100% (up from 50%).
4. Imp Arcane Blast: +20% Damage increase to Arcane Blast.
5. Imp Arcane Explosion: +20% Damage increase to Arcane Explosion.
6. Imp Arcane Missiles: +20% Damage increase to Arcane Missiles.
7. Imp Arcane Power: Arcane Power now reduces the cost of spells by 10% rather than increasing cost.
8. Imp Blink: Revived from Cataclysm and prior expansions, Blink now increases your movement speed by 60% for 2s.
9. Imp Evocation: -30s off the cooldown of Evocation

Fire

• Ignite and Combustion will still be snapshot DoTs, despite Snapshotting being removed. (Source: Celestalon's Twitter) [Source for Snapshotting being removed below]
  
  • However, Celestalon didn't mention anything about Combustion with Haste and Crit; Ignite is confirmed to work as it always has because it's a special kind of DoT.
• Fireball will get a perk that ramps up its crit chance by 5% for every non-crit Fireball you get in a row, and resets upon getting a critical (this is a revive of the old Combustion).
• Glyph of Frostfire Bolt is now Fire only (but no one ever used it for Frost anyways)
• Scorch is retaining its castable-while-moving status (Source: Celestalon's Twitter)
  
  • One of the perks in WoD will also grant a 30% movement speed bonus for 3s every time a Mage casts Scorch
• Combustion is getting its initial large damage back, and is also being buffed (as of Alpha Build 18164, the initial hit is 200% Spellpower and the DoT is 40% of Ignite, up from 20%)

Fire Perks

1. Enh Inferno Blast: -1s off the cooldown of Inferno Blast.
2. Enh Fireball: Fireball now gets +5% crit chance for every Fireball you fail to crit in a row for 15s. The bonus ends when you successfully crit with a Fireball.
3. Imp Combustion: +20% Damage increase to Combustion.
4. Imp Dragon's Breath: +50% Damage increase to Dragon's Breath.
5. Imp Fireball & Frostfire Bolt: +20% Damage increase to Fireball and Frostfire Bolt.
6. Imp Flamestrike: Revived from Cataclysm, Flamestrike once again has no cooldown.
7. Imp Inferno Blast: Inferno Blast now spreads Pyroblast, Ignite, and Combustion to 2 additional targets (So 5 up from 3 additional targets? Or... What exactly does this mean?)
8. Imp Pyroblast: +15% Crit chance to Pyroblast.
9. Imp Scorch: Casting Scorch increases your movement speed by 30% for 3s.

Frost

• Water Elementals are getting a new spell (Source: Celestalon's Twitter)
  
  • This new spell will share a CD with Freeze, so I guess we're seeing a new iteration of "Water Jet". (Source: Celestalon's Twitter)
    
    • Water Jet has indeed been added exactly how it was back in 5.4's proposed plan.
• Frost Armor now gives 15% Multistrike instead of 7% Haste
• Glyph of Icy Veins now makes Icy Veins give 75% Multistrike instead of 20% Haste (instead of that weird 40% x3 spell thing it does now)
• Shatter now multiplies crit chance by 1.5x +50% (down from 2x +50%)
• Brain Freeze now stacks to 2 but no longer makes Frostfire Bolt instant. It now has a 10% chance to trigger from Frostbolt (instead of Mage Bomb), and proccing a Multistrike off of Frostbolt increases the chance by 45% (so 10% per Frostbolt, 55% for Multistrike 1, and 100% for Multistrike 2).
  
  • Brain Freeze still makes the mana cost of FFB 0 and considers the target frozen. It just lost its instant cast time benefit.
  • As of Alpha Build 18164, Brain Freeze also increases the damage of Frostfire Bolt by 25%.

Frost Perks

1. Enh Frostbolt: Frostbolt's cast time is reduced by 0.5s, but this effect has a 15s cooldown.
2. Enh Ice Lance: Fingers of Frost can now stack to 3, up from 2.
3. Imp Blizzard: Each time Blizzard deals damage, it reduces the cooldown of Frozen Orb by 1s. (1s per target, or only 1s per 'wave'?)
4. Imp Frost Nova: Blink's cooldown is reset after casting Frost Nova.
5. Imp Frostbolt: +20% Damage increase to Frostbolt.
6. Imp Frostfire Bolt: +20% Damage increase to Frostfire Bolt.
7. Imp Ice Lance: +20% Damage increase to Ice Lance.
8. Imp Icy Veins: Increases the amount of Haste granted from Icy Veins by 10%. (Doesn't seem to benefit the new Multistrike Glyph of Icy Veins in any way)
9. Imp Water Elemental: Teaches your Water Elemental "Water Jet". Water Jet splashes a target with icy water, dealing damage over 4s. Frostbolts that hit a target being doused by Water Jet grant a FoF charge.

Caster (general) Information

• Gear Archtypes gone. Cloth drops will NEVER have Spirit, for example. (Source: Day 2 Information panel)
  
  • Jewelry, Cloaks, Trinkets, and Weapons do not follow ^ and may have Spirit.
  • Spirit is once again a Healer-only stat, so Shadow Priests, Balance Druids, and Elemental Shamans no longer benefit from it.
• DoT Snapshotting and Haste Breakpoints removed; DoTs will scale dynamically with your stats in real-time. (Source: This thread and Celestalon's Twitter)
  
  • In addition, all classes get Warlock's Pandemic, so applying DoTs at most 50% early will not be wasted (weird to think how that will work with LB)
    
    • ​We finally got a source for the Pandemic-like effect. As such, it's only up to 30% bonus duration (Source: Periodic Effects on the WoD Blog) [Scroll to the very end of the section. It's the last bullet point just before "Return to Table of Contents"]
      
      • Living Bomb's explosion won't be affected negatively, unless you refresh it prior to 70% of its original being expended

General Information

• New Secondary Item Stats: These stats will be on the same budget as Crit (Chance), Haste, Mastery, etc. (Source: Day 2 Information panel) (Source for MS, Amp, and Readiness: Twitter and the "Gear Changes in WoD" post) (Source that Cleave and Amplification are temporarily removed: Celestalon's Twitter; they are likely to return at a later date)
  
  • Cleave: Increased AoE damage (Removed... for now. Source above)
  • Multistrike: Attacks can proc a second, weaker, version of itself (Kardris' Toxic Totem)
    
    • Multistrike will "roll twice" in PvE and "roll once" in PvP (Source: Holinka's Twitter)
    • Lhivera has generously provided a plethora of information on his site all about Multistrike. (Source: Lhivera's Library [However, Lhivera is not a credible source for unreleased information, so we need his sources to confirm this, though it's still a good read]
  • Amplitude: Increased Critical Strike damage (Removed... for now. Source above)
  • Readiness: Shorter Cooldowns (Those trinkets we didn't get to try)
• New Tertiary Item Stats: These stats will not be on any budget at all and will randomly 'generate' on gear pieces.
  
  • Speed: Movement Speed that will stack with other speed buffs (to a certain cap)
  • Steadiness: Indestructible equip; NO durability losses (on the pieces you have with Steadiness)
  • Avoidance: Reduces AoE damage taken
  • Lifesteal: Damage you deal to enemies heals you
• Hit and Expertise removed. Reforging also removed. (Source: Day 2 Information panel)
• There will be more "dynamic" trinkets, such as UVLS (though hopefully useful for MAGES this time) (Source: This thread)
• Critical Damage in PvP lowered to 150%, down from 200% (Source for PvP: Holinka's Twitter) (Source that this will NOT be in PvE: Holinka's Twitter)
• Amount of procs lining up (trinkets, enchants, etc) will be toned down so we don't have the craziness that we do today (Source: Holinka's Twitter)

Mage L15 Talents

• Presence of Mind has become a baseline Arcane ability and replaced by Evanesce
  
  • Evanesce is a new 45s cooldown that can be cast while casting a spell, isn't on the global cooldown, and replaces Ice Block. It avoids all attacks used against you for 3s.

Mage L30 Talents

• Temporal Shield has been removed and replaced by a new iteration of Alter Time
  
  • Alter Time has become a talent and is now a 90s cooldown that lasts 15s and only rewinds your Health and location. No longer affects your buffs, debuffs, or mana.

Mage L45 Talents

• 100% unchanged so far, though with the huge pruning of CC, I wouldn't be surprised if something got changed later on.

Mage L60 Talents

• Greater Invisibility MAY be affected by Readiness, as Readiness currently affects the cooldown of Invisibility [This is pure speculation on my part though]
• Cauterize retains it's normal effect and cooldown, but now revives you to 35% health and burns off 28% over 6s.
• Cold Snap also resets the cooldown on an additional specific spell, based on your spec, and also seems to heal 22% of health, down from 30% (possible alpha error?)
  
  • Arcane: Presence of Mind
  • Fire: Dragon's Breath
  • Frost: Cone of Cold (Cold Snap already reset Cone of Cold, but CoC is now Frost-only)
  • Cold Snap will also reset Evanesce, since Evanesce replaces Ice Block (Source: WoD's Cold Snap on Wowhead [click the Evanesce checkbox])

Mage L75 talents

• Mage Bombs are now consolidated to one talent. The one you get is determined by your spec
  
  • Nether Tempest is restricted to one target, but now deals 100% damage to secondary targets (up from 50%) and also hits all targets near the primary target (up from one additional target)
  • Living Bomb is once again spreadable by Inferno Blast and will deal "most of its damage" by the explosion
  • Frost Bomb has been completely redesigned and now deals a large chunk of damage to the primary target (and 50% to secondary, nearby, targets) whenever an Ice Lance hits a target that is frozen and has the Frost Bomb on it.
• Unstable Magic is a new passive L75 talent that gives a 25% chance for your primary filler spell (Arcane Blast, Fireball, and Frostbolt) to explode for 50% damage to all targets within 8 yards of the primary target (though I REALLY hope it turns the spells into a volley for Fireball and Frostbolt instead!)
  
  • Unstable Magic proc rates will apparently be tweaked based on what spec you are, as of Alpha Build 18164
• A new trio of L75 talents is available, one made for each spec. All three can be cast on allies (doesn't affect allies) but deals double damage to an enemy that is selected instead (for PvE balancing between the other two choices). All three deal their damage and effects to an AoE pulse that is spread out from the primary target chosen.
  
  • Supernova is a ranged Arcane Explosion that also knocks targets upwards.
  • Blast Wave is back in its Cataclysmic ranged form, but is cast on an enemy/ally instead. It also dazes enemies for 4s reducing their movement speed by 70%. Does not knockback.
  • Ice Nova is an enhanced, ranged, Frost Nova that also deals a fair bit of damage, but replaced Frost Nova.

Mage L90 talents

• Both Invocation and Incanter's Ward have been removed.
• Rune of Power is sticking around, but now lasts 3m up from 1m, does not replace Evocation, and no longer increases mana regen.
• Mirror Image is becoming a new L90 talent and will deal 1000% more damage (5% Spellpower up from 50% Spellpower).
• Incanter's Flow is a new L90 talent and will shift our damage bonus from 5% to 25% multiple times over the course of a fight.

Mage L100 Talents

• All three talents remain unchanged so far. There is a LOT of talk about Prismatic Crystal, though.

[Deleted]

- CoC and Blizzard morphed into non-channeling Blizzard OR FNova and CoC morphed into good ol' CoC that freezes.
- New L90 talents
- Probably updated spell effects
- Some sick new spell/talent that would rock your screen

[Libretto]

A fire rework that makes it a less shitty spec.

[LocNess]

I just want to see some new 90 talents. Or make our current 90 talents DPS CDs of some sorts.

Ok maybe not just. I do want Fire redesigned as I have pushed for before, and I think Arcane could use some spicing up.

[Polarthief]

- Like most I assume, I totally want new L90 talents, though I have a strange feeling they'll keep Rune of Power for Arcane... Hmmm...
- In addition, I want the L75 talents (bomb tier) completely gone or NT/LB to have significantly increased durations (24-30s). They're simply too short and so annoying to keep applying (they're not hard, they're just annoying >_>)
- I'd also like AT to be changed to be defensive stuff only and we get a new class-wide offensive cooldown.

For Arcane, I want something that makes it at least decent in mobile DPS (or allowing you to teleport between Runes because that would make Rune awesome), and something else to add in the rotation. It just feels boring to me.

Fire needs a complete overhaul at this point. It's too reliant on Crit, has no real cooldown (20% Combustion lolol) and has such a simplistic rotation.

Frost could use a touch-up on a few things. A non proc-based way to do mobile DPS would be really cool because mobility has always been awkward with Frost when you don't have FoF or BF up. Besides that, I'd like some more interaction with our Water Elementals because, despite being a major pet, they don't really do a whole lot besides lob Waterbolts or the occasional freeze on adds for some FoF procs (though some bosses you can't even use it). I'd also like to see something done to Frozen Orb because having it sit there just to have a boss move is annoying (just like the original problems with Flame Orb!). Rotationally, I think it's fine though.

[Zatetic]

I would like it if blizzard was made into a rain of fire type spell.
I would like some more defensive cooldowns and survivability.
I would like some raid wide utility (be that the dampen or amplify magic ideas posted on here or a mana stone soulwell or something new).
I would like our level 90 talents to be reworked or the spell power buff from them amalgamated into our armor.

As far as spec specific,
I'd like a new cooldown for arcane. Something not too big. Maybe a mana cooldown that rapid regens.
I'd like some more customization with the water ele. A talent tree sort of thing.
As for fire, I think the spec needs an entire overhaul. Everything about it needs to be changed right down to the abilities, the scaling, maybe even the resource.
I dont particularly mind RoP, as stated above, if we had the ability to teleport between two, and they had a much longer duration, I think that'd be alright.

I dont expect any of it to happen, but that is what I'd like.

[Huevos]

I do think they'll keep Rune because it's a pretty unique spell that I think they like. And I think it'd be cool to have it as a CD, where you only need to stand in it for maybe 20 seconds every 2 or 3 minutes.

I think AT will get attention - they've stated that they never intended for it to be used as a major offensive CD like it is currently, so maybe they do something like remove the offensive portion of AT and compensate with making Rune baseline for every spec and finding a better way to get Arcane its mana to make mana adept work.

[Polarthief]

I think AT will get attention - they've stated that they never intended for it to be used as a major offensive CD like it is currently, so maybe they do something like remove the offensive portion of AT and compensate with making Rune baseline for every spec and finding a better way to get Arcane its mana to make mana adept work.

I feel like if they made Rune baseline for the class, we'd lose even more Mages than we've lost this expansion... >_>;

Unless it's some sort of actual cooldown, but even then, I personally would be pretty pissed. I want it completely gone from Frost and Fire

[Kagecamia]

It's almost certain that the talents are going to be looked at. Not only for mages but for other classes as well. Certain things may be made baseline as people have noted, however other things may be changed around.

While some spec changes may be made here and there, don't expect a lock type of revamp. Blizzard said that they don't feel that it was as successful as they wanted it to turn out.

[mrgreenthump]

Am doubtful that much if at all mage stuff will be talked abt @ Blizzcon, so this thread is purely speculative in that regard.. So I tweaked the topic a bit. Will change it back if there is actual information regarding mages @ Blizzcon though. Also not really sure if there is a spot for this thread just yet. But it was coming sooner or later so this shall be the "Expansion talk thread" from now on.

Oh and keep it civil pretty please.

[Polarthief]

It's almost certain that the talents are going to be looked at. Not only for mages but for other classes as well. Certain things may be made baseline as people have noted, however other things may be changed around.

While some spec changes may be made here and there, don't expect a lock type of revamp. Blizzard said that they don't feel that it was as successful as they wanted it to turn out.

Looking back on what I've said in the past of this expansion, we actually don't need a overhaul, but Fire, however, does need a complete tearing down and rebuilding.

No matter how you slice it, Fire has always been UP or OP depending on the tier for the last 3 expansions in a row. Nothing worked this expansion with their methods of trying to contain the flames, but it just goes to show that you can't control a raging fire

In all seriousness though, it needs to be split from Crit. One stat can't be that exponentially good for a spec to where it pushes being better 1:1 over Intellect.

- - - Updated - - -

Am doubtful that much if at all mage stuff will be talked abt @ Blizzcon, so this thread is purely speculative in that regard.. So I tweaked the topic a bit. Will change it back if there is actual information regarding mages @ Blizzcon though. Also not really sure if there is a spot for this thread just yet. But it was coming sooner or later so this shall be the "Expansion talk thread" from now on.

Oh and keep it civil pretty please.

Le gasp! What'd you change?!

But in all seriousness, there's always some information:

- Glimpse of talent trees; Mage one might show up (it did last time)
- New Races (if any): Can they be Mages?
- General Caster stuff counts as it includes Mages
- PvP Changes such as DR and Resilience

Idk, I know there isn't much but we might as well have a thread ready for it I understand there won't be very much strictly based on Mages, but stuff that encompasses Mages should be fairly plentiful; enough to fill up a post I'd assume


Edit: Ahh okay, good edit. I simply said "Blizzcon" instead of just "6.0" so people wouldn't necro this thread in a few months XD

[mrgreenthump]

Also.. Use the new WoD forum for any non-mage or related stuff.

- - - Updated - - -

Edit: Ahh okay, good edit. I simply said "Blizzcon" instead of just "6.0" so people wouldn't necro this thread in a few months XD

It's more towards me having plans there being fairly similar sticky thread that 5.0 had.. Just thinking it's a tad bit too early for it, but we shall see. Blizzcon would rise new threads anyways, so this should prolly fill that slot at least.

[Polarthief]

It's more towards me having plans there being fairly similar sticky thread that 5.0 had.. Just thinking it's a tad bit too early for it, but we shall see. Blizzcon would rise new threads anyways, so this should prolly fill that slot at least.

Oooh ok, gotcha.

Yeah I know it's a bit early, but I wanted to contain some of the chaos before we get 100 threads that have one line of information EVERY time some small thing about Mages come out (usually all containing the same information). Less headaches for the mods and we get a Mage Megathread for discussion, information, and speculation

[Tomey]

I'd really like for them to maybe look at the specs and incorporate a "theme" with each. What I mean by this, is having a playstyle difference that makes a frost mage feel different than a fire or arcane mage, and vice versa. Some examples would be:

1) Frost is all about slowing and freezing, then shattering off this for big damage. Maybe looking at having a spell that when you deep freeze someone and spam ice lances into them, the deep freeze cracks a bit after each spell, up to 3, and then you can cast a new spell called "ice shatter" for a big BOOM effect of damage that puts a crippling cold type debuff for increased frost damage for a specific amount of time or for the next few spell casts.

2) Fire is all about explosions and high big fire crits. Fire is also very movement friendly in raid and pvp environments with scorch. accentuate these strengths. Why not have molten armor reworked to where your skin becomes molten? on physical contact in pvp, or on spell cast chance, you afflict your enemy with molten burn that does damage or provides a raid debuff.

3) Arcane is very stand and nuke. This works well in theory, but with heroics large movement this is hindered. This hindrance occurs even more when you add to the fact that Ring of Power is necessary and completely roots you to a spot. Why not rework arcane charges and the mana usage into more of a weaving technique like we saw with scorch, only make it so that as you execute this mana usage weaving properly, you build stacks of arcane charges, which can be used up either to move and cast, or too amplify a certain spell, or be utilized to change into a temporal being with increased damage effects? We have temporal shield as a talent, why not have "temporal weaving" as a talent at level 90, where depending on your spec you change into a temporal frost, fire, or arcane being with increased effects for your specialization? Yes, it is similar to elemental shamans, but the lines have been more and more blurred with each expansion, now to the point that everything we bring, someone else brings utility wise or does better.

[fearist]

i think the concept of fire should stay the same. big crits, blowing shit up. just need a real CD

[Polarthief]

i think the concept of fire should stay the same. big crits, blowing shit up. just need a real CD

I can near guarantee that something will happen to Critical Mass and Fire's Crit formula.

I'm fine if the overall feel is the same, but Crit is simply TOO good for Fire, and after 3 whole expansions, they're not going to leave it snowballing out of control.

Unless, you know, they want to continue derping and doing stupid things like giving us Critical Mass which makes us even more OP...

[Huevos]

I can near guarantee that something will happen to Critical Mass and Fire's Crit formula.

I'm fine if the overall feel is the same, but Crit is simply TOO good for Fire, and after 3 whole expansions, they're not going to leave it snowballing out of control.

Unless, you know, they want to continue derping and doing stupid things like giving us Critical Mass which makes us even more OP...

Critical Mass is a definite problem, but Fire needs to be completely redone if they want to finally fix the scaling issues. As long as we're dependent on a spell crit to open up our rotation we'll have scaling issues. They tried giving us the tiered Hot Streak talents in Cata, didn't work, and for some reason they inverted that idea with Critical Mass (got stronger with gear instead of weaker), and we all know how well that's worked.

Anyway, I agree that they'll try to fix fire, but they'll probably fail, and I don't see them unveiling anything Fire specific at Blizzcon since I expect smaller scale changes than they normally show there. I'm hoping if they showcase any mage changes they'll give us something that makes us more valuable in raids, like the umpteen tools that locks have.

[Csnyder]

speculate all you want, its a waste of time, this thread should probably pop up again during the next ptr when it is more relevent

[LocNess]

speculate all you want, its a waste of time, this thread should probably pop up again during the next ptr when it is more relevent

Doesn't matter, its fun. And community speculation and idea generation is always healthy.

[nickseng]

I think AT will get attention - they've stated that they never intended for it to be used as a major offensive CD like it is currently

Huh, that's the first time I've heard of it. Do you have a quote?