[Spec] Combining our specs into stances and just be a mage

[Deleted]

Hey all Been playing this x-pack maining a mage and 1 of the major downfalls (in my opinion) is the 3 specs that are supposed to the same thing but are only a pain in the but (different spec, different stat-prio etc.)
It's more about what spec does most DPS instead of playing a mage; Bolster magical spells to win the day.

So I was thinking of how it would be more appealing to play with stances instead of specs.

i.e. Firestance for AoE/Cleave situations and dots, Arcanestance for Tunneling single target and mana, Froststance to CC.

Just let a mage be a mage and let him(her) switch to stances (or states of mind) to suit the needs at that time.

Any thoughts?

[Deleted]

Specs are the worst thing ever anyway. Should just have 1 spec per class.

[Imnick]

What an appalling idea

[Keiyra]

Blasphemy!!

Turn in your robe and your staff/wand immediately! <snaps it half>


In all seriousness - blizzard wants to move towards MORE spec identity, not LESS.

They already have a game where you can be a "mage" and the flavor is chosen on the fly by selecting what skills you need, its called diablo 3

[Rambutan]

I wouldn't mind. Reminds me of the Elementalist in Guild Wars. But I enjoy complexity whereas the overall direction for Warlords seems to be towards simplicity. The biggest problem is that players wouldn't have a choice in the matter, they would either have to learn it all or switch classes.

[Shangalar]

It could be a good idea. But then you'd have to program a way to change your action bars, talents and glyphs whenever you change stance. At that point, it could just be silly to have to change stances in the middle of combat so we could just separate the stances into different specs you can change between combat. That could work

[Mastamage]

It could be a good idea. But then you'd have to program a way to change your action bars, talents and glyphs whenever you change stance. At that point, it could just be silly to have to change stances in the middle of combat so we could just separate the stances into different specs you can change between combat. That could work

IMO, it would turn out just like Warrior stance dancing in Cata (which was a DPS increase if you had minimal latency) where you just macro specific abilities to stances and forget you even had them in the first place.

[palanicuzz]

Hotbars and spec should change when you swap armors, like if changing armor to molten you swap spec to fire ect.

[MisterMine]

Hey all Been playing this x-pack maining a mage and 1 of the major downfalls (in my opinion) is the 3 specs that are supposed to the same thing but are only a pain in the but (different spec, different stat-prio etc.)
It's more about what spec does most DPS instead of playing a mage; Bolster magical spells to win the day.

So I was thinking of how it would be more appealing to play with stances instead of specs.

i.e. Firestance for AoE/Cleave situations and dots, Arcanestance for Tunneling single target and mana, Froststance to CC.

Just let a mage be a mage and let him(her) switch to stances (or states of mind) to suit the needs at that time.

Any thoughts?

you do realize theres this thing in this game where every class has 3 different specs right?

[Zenny]

So, GW2 elementalist?

[Pandule]

As long as it doesn't lead to warrior-ish situations.

For example u need a quick frost nova:
1)swap to frost spec
2) cast frost nova
3) swap back to fire or arcane whatever u need to dmg

Kinda like warriors had to swap gear/spec before to cast certain spells. It's what i disliked bout warriors in the firstplace

[Deleted]

Stances is not the right word maybe, it's more like a shadow-priest that goes into a form. In shadowform the priests shadow damage abilities and health/dmg mitigation are enhanced. Out of shadowform he looses the boosts but gains healing.

For a mage you could do something like:

All spec spells are baseline but are enhanced when in the corresponding form.
Some are left out that are too specific to a spec or aren't workable with anymore. Button bloat chop*chop. Or can be added as a talent/glyph.
The class-bar could be used for additional spells when switching into another form (think of Freeze, Combustion etc. those kind of spells) with a maximum of 3 spells to keep things simple.

As a mage you could go into Frostform (Frostpath under your feet, cold air emiting from your frosty body vaporizing into steam (waterwalking instead of slowfall ) and have alot more CC then you would have in the other forms. Water elly can proc from spells and is a timed buff like Shammy T16 4-piece proc (to get rid of that pesky pet but still have the "feel" of Frost).

Sliding into Fire your Frost-aura will blend into flames and your frostnova/arcane explosion turnes into a firepatch that does ticking AoE (old flamestrike) and you can do massive cleave to those council minibosses or aoe some packs of mobs more effeciently and agresivly.

Then the raidboss pops up and you slide into arcane. The fire sparkles away while bright lights start to emit from your hands when you are going all out spitting out arcane blasting the target, new found strength (superior mana regen) bolstering every bit of damage on that one target.

Awhell, in fantasy it realy looks cool not about to happen tho but it would make me a very happy mage if something like this was announced by Blizz haha.

[Keiyra]

Awhell, in fantasy it realy looks cool not about to happen tho but it would make me a very happy mage if something like this was announced by Blizz haha.

There are games with classes out there like that if that's what you really want btw (GW2 come to mind, D3 somewhat if you choose Archon)

Not that a multi-elementalist wouldn't be cool, but even then, I'd still want 3 specs with a variety of playstyles/themes :P

[Regen]

Mages are already cried hard about. Imagine if they could use all 3 specs in one fight? Using the best in each phase it shines? The cries would never end.

Plus I think more flavor and identity between specs should be the direction, imo.