[Mage] Ideas for the future (Abilities, glyphs, etc.)

[Imnick]

We don't use energy like rogues though, have you played a rogue?
Rogues are extremely dependent on their energy rotation, they do not have an "infinite pool that is never expended".

Managing mana frankly was never interesting for Frost or Fire and I don't think I really know anyone who misses it. People only miss Evocation for the heal, not because they were forced to cast it or go OOM (let's note that if you make evocation necessary to avoid running out of mana, people wouldn't be able to use it to heal anyway).
It was also never "iconic" for mages to use mana because so did literally every other healer and spellcaster.
Removing old mechanics because they don't actually do anything useful or interesting is good design.

We've already been over why a raid-wide temporal shield could never happen so I'm not going to bother bringing that up again.

[Northem]

I have the feeling that PvP will be a disaster this expansion for both Fire and Arcane, but I think the latter will have more problems. Frost might be the only good spec. in PvP.
I really don't know why they don't at least try making Arcane better in PvP. They could've given Arcanists Mana Shield back, or the old Mage Ward.

Mage Ward: Absorbs Fire, Frost or Arcane damage. Lasts 30 sec.

I would've preferred if Greater Invisibility had been an Arcane-only talent, but I don't think that will happen anymore. We also can't use Molten Armour any longer, making ranged attacks, pets and melee classes even more annoying. As I said, something like Mana Shield would fit Arcane's theme and might require some thought with Arcane's mastery (I personally dislike the mastery).
They took away so much and we got nothing in return, as far as Arcane is concerned (and Fire, although I haven't tried that spec. in PvP yet).

Exactly: the arcane (and fire) mages need significant support in order to be useful in PVP. Much of the ideas I'm working have to do precisely with this aspect.

For example, I'm developing a new [Mana Shield], perhaps available only for arcane mages, as well as a decent substitute for the old talent [Temporal Shield], since the current [Alter Time] is a useless defensive shield (its cooldown is excessive and its own functioning is a disadvantage in most situations).
Specifically I'm trying to combine the old [Mage Ward] you mention with the [Evanesce] talent (which leaves plenty to be desired).

PS. I also think that the current arcane mastery is a sovereign stupidity (do more damage the less spells you cast). The Arcane mastery should just strengthen the [Arcane Charges].

If you want to add a new rotational spell you need to prove that there's a need for it though, which for Arcane there kind of isn't. If it were Fire I don't think anyone would be complaining, but adding a second filler spell when you already have one is a decision which needs more justification, in a spec that already has a pretty complete DPS kit.

Perhaps it is true that the arcane mages do not require "another" filler spell, however, their reliance almost exclusively on the slow and stationary [Arcane Blast] or on the [Arcane Missiles] proc to generate charges (and thus to do authentic damage) is insufficient (especially in some situations).

So, another solution that I am raising is that an improved [Arcane Orb] becomes part of the arcane rotation, obviously becoming a baseline spell for the arcane mages (and the fire mages will not have to worry: they will also will have a renewed and improved [Flame Orb] perfectly bound to their rotations).

We don't use energy like rogues though, have you played a rogue?
Rogues are extremely dependent on their energy rotation, they do not have an "infinite pool that is never expended".

Managing mana frankly was never interesting for Frost or Fire and I don't think I really know anyone who misses it. People only miss Evocation for the heal, not because they were forced to cast it or go OOM (let's note that if you make evocation necessary to avoid running out of mana, people wouldn't be able to use it to heal anyway).
It was also never "iconic" for mages to use mana because so did literally every other healer and spellcaster.
Removing old mechanics because they don't actually do anything useful or interesting is good design.

We've already been over why a raid-wide temporal shield could never happen so I'm not going to bother bringing that up again.

I'm just trying to say that the logical and normal would be that the reserves of mana of the mages had their due importance, ie, that all the mages (and all mana-based classes in general) had to take into account their level of mana at all times. Having a mana bar should matter!

However I understand the policy of Blizzard of try to remove all RPG traces from WoW and thus turn it into a simple arcade game, where you have not to pay attention to your mana bar, since you will always have mana available (in practice, it is as if we did not have mana and all spells were free).

I am against this policy, but I know I can not do anything to avoid its application, at the end of the day the only thing that matters to Blizzard is to get as much money as possible, and an easy way to achieve this is making the game more and more "easy".

With regard to the raid-wide [Temporal Shield], I regret not being able to remember their numerous alleged disadvantages, but whatever they are, sure they are preferable before having to stick with the nonsensical and useless [Amplify Magic].

[Winkleslob]

Here's my idea for a debuff added to targets damaged by the new level 100 talent for Frost Mage's, Comet Storm:

''Glaciate: Enemies caught in the Comet Storm will erode in a glacier incapacitated for 1.5 sec. Any Frost spell will trigger the release of a tide of bursting Glaciation, causing the Glaciate effect to explode dealing (300% of Spell power) Frost damage to the target and (150% of Spell power) Frost damage to all other enemies within 10 yards.''

Basicly my idea is that when you land hits with Comet Storm, they will get a 1.5 sec debuff that freezes them similar to what Ring of Frost does... And, ontop of that, any damage dealt to the frozen targets will explode. So, if the target is immune it will just have an effect similar to Frost bomb, except you only get the exolosion off one time per target... If you get it up on multiple targets, it will chain explode. My hope if this was to be added to the game is that it will get the capabillity to nearly 1-shot people hit by chain explosions caused by the debuff... If 7 people get frozen, and you damage one with the debuff, he explodes, then they all chain explode etc.

I wrote a post about this idea, it's in my sig.

[Imnick]

Blizzard don't want you to be able to one shot people though, especially with an ability with a 30 second cooldown

[Winkleslob]

Blizzard don't want you to be able to one shot people though, especially with an ability with a 30 second cooldown

To balance my idea a little bit, it should add a circle under your feet if it's about to hit you, so you'll get time to pop a cd or blink out of it. To counter it you simply don't stay close to each other if you don't want to be decimated by Comet Storm in Ashrand, and so on... It would just make the talent fun, and a viable choice. Right now it's simply damage alone, while the Fire Meteor adds ignite, Arcane orb gives Arcane Charges, etc.

It would also make a good option for Bursting down mobs in PvE, aswell as pinning them down for a brief period of time.

[Elegiac]

Completely agree. [Glyph of Regenerative Ice] is stupid and nearly useless, is not at the level of the old [Glyph of Evocation] and of course cannot replace it.

In fact [Evocation] should return to all specializations as a basic spell and, obviously, this would entail that the mana would return to be an important thing for all specializations, not just for arcane mages, since now it appears that instead of mana we use energy like the rogues, as we have a fixed amount of mana that is virtually infinite since it is never exhausted.

REMEMBER: Mages use mana! We do not use energy!

Once the mana becomes useful and its administration becomes necessary for all mages again, we should recover also the [Create mana gem] ability, another characteristic and iconic spell of the mages.

Obviously, with the return of [Evocation], its old Major Glyph to regain health at the same time as mana would also return, as is something so necessary in our everyday life.

Mana has never been 'important' to either Fire or Frost, and quite frankly was only 'important' to Arcane insofar as the interaction between Arcane Power and Evocation (prior to the advent of Mana Adept, of course). The issue with resource dependence for caster specs is that unlike melee classes and Hunters we do not have an equivalent of white damage; our baseline damage is dependent on our ability to cast spells. Mana, for all casters except Arcane, simply exists to act as a brake on utility spells - for hybrids, this refers to their healing spells. For Fire and Frost Mages, this refers exclusively to Spellsteal.

If mana is to matter again for Fire and Frost then it would be in the vein of something like Embers for Destruction; something which is generated by the baseline rotation but can be consumed for gain by hard hitting spells or cooldowns.

As for [Amplify Magic] my opinion is clear: it is a spell that should disappear since, indeed, it has no place in a non-healing class such as the mages.

Of course, once removed that awful spell, its place would be taken by another spell that would also help the raid, something that made more sense and, above all, something that mages could benefit themselves in any circumstance without depending on others.

For example, one of the options I'm mulling as a substitute for [Amplify Magic] is similar to the old [Temporal Shield] spell, although this time it would apply to the entire raid as a whole.

Amplify Magic makes perfect sense for a Mage, and to be honest has been present as part of the class longer than it has been absent. We do not need to derive personal benefit from it since it is by definition a group utility spell.

- - - Updated - - -

Exactly: the arcane (and fire) mages need significant support in order to be useful in PVP. Much of the ideas I'm working have to do precisely with this aspect.

For example, I'm developing a new [Mana Shield], perhaps available only for arcane mages, as well as a decent substitute for the old talent [Temporal Shield], since the current [Alter Time] is a useless defensive shield (its cooldown is excessive and its own functioning is a disadvantage in most situations).
Specifically I'm trying to combine the old [Mage Ward] you mention with the [Evanesce] talent (which leaves plenty to be desired).

PS. I also think that the current arcane mastery is a sovereign stupidity (do more damage the less spells you cast). The Arcane mastery should just strengthen the [Arcane Charges].

Alter Time is not intended as a defensive shield; it's a utility spell, and a fairly potent one at that. Temporal Shield was nice, but to be fair the active mitigation that Ice Barrier provides makes any other competitors on that tier a poor choice for either solo content or PvP.

Mana Adept is only problematic if Arcane lacks a burn phase. The intent of the Mastery was to smooth out damage during conserve phases, which it did fairly well; the issue becomes apparent when the conserve phase represents the entire rotation.

Perhaps it is true that the arcane mages do not require "another" filler spell, however, their reliance almost exclusively on the slow and stationary [Arcane Blast] or on the [Arcane Missiles] proc to generate charges (and thus to do authentic damage) is insufficient (especially in some situations).

So, another solution that I am raising is that an improved [Arcane Orb] becomes part of the arcane rotation, obviously becoming a baseline spell for the arcane mages (and the fire mages will not have to worry: they will also will have a renewed and improved [Flame Orb] perfectly bound to their rotations).

Arcane's basic rotation is fine beyond its lack of a burn phase; this can be solved by locking Mana Adept at full effectiveness while Arcane Power is active. What Arcane needs is a way to force AM procs.

- - - Updated - - -

To balance my idea a little bit, it should add a circle under your feet if it's about to hit you, so you'll get time to pop a cd or blink out of it. To counter it you simply don't stay close to each other if you don't want to be decimated by Comet Storm in Ashrand, and so on... It would just make the talent fun, and a viable choice. Right now it's simply damage alone, while the Fire Meteor adds ignite, Arcane orb gives Arcane Charges, etc.

It would also make a good option for Bursting down mobs in PvE, aswell as pinning them down for a brief period of time.

If triggering Ignite constitutes rotational integration, I'll eat my hat.

[Sarm]

I don't know if frost really needs -yet another- ability to control mobs and call up on-demand burst.

[ButterBeast]

Glyph of pet morphing Your polymorph now resembles your current active companion pet. Ultimate polymorph glyph much?

[Ravester]

Be able to polymorph self, using the polymorph spell...

[Terminal Lance]

I'd like this row in the future, a DPS-neutral talent row but allows the mage to work around its weaknesses.

Left Slot: Weapon Transmutation - Transmutes your weapon based on your specialization, allowing you to fight effectively in close combat. (Toggle ability)
(Fire): Transmutes your weapon into a fiery halberd. Your auto-attacks deal pure Fire damage, and your Fireball spell turns into Flame Thrust (instant, triggers Ignite, Hot Streak, etc.)
(Arcane): Transmutes your weapon into a spellblade. Your auto-attacks deal pure Arcane damage, and your Arcane Blast spell turns into Netherstrike (instant, generates Arcane Charges, can proc AMissiles, etc.)
(Frost): Transmutes your weapon into a frozen scythe. Your auto-attacks deal pure Frost damage, and your Frostbolt spell turns into Frost Slash (instant, can trigger FoF, Brain Freeze, etc.)

Middle Slot: Summon Protector - Summons an elemental guardian based on your specialization. These pets can withstand heavy punishment. While active, your spell damage is reduced by X%.
(Fire) - Summons a Molten Giant to fight for the caster. (like those found in Hyjal)
(Arcane) - Summons an Arcane Construct to fight for the caster. (like those found in Silvermoon City)
(Frost) - Summons a Frost Giant to fight for the caster.

Right Slot: Haven't thought it through, lol

[Imnick]

I don't understand the purpose of this talent row or how even those two options would be balanced against each other.
One of them is a tank pet but... what weakness does "give mages a melee autoattack" solve? How would making our filler spells instant cast be DPS neutral?

[Terminal Lance]

I don't understand the purpose of this talent row or how even those two options would be balanced against each other.
One of them is a tank pet but... what weakness does "give mages a melee autoattack" solve? How would making our filler spells instant cast be DPS neutral?

Oh idk, maybe make them deal less damage than their casted counterparts?
Balance wouldn't be much of an issue since, again, it's supposed to be dps-neutral. It's more of a play style preference row, really. And I don't recall throwing any numbers in there.
Nope, I didn't.

The purpose of Transmutation would be that if a melee class got in your face, and you're snared, Blink is on CD, etc., you can still keep the damage going. Or for those who want an alternate playstyle.

The purpose of the Protector, of course, would be to solo stuff easier, closer to the levels of Hunters and Locks. The pets would deal enough damage to offset the spell damage lost (again, neutral/within 2-5%).

I'm thinking the 3rd would be some sort of on-demand heal, kind of like a reverse Life Tap. Not sure how this would work for Arcane though.

[Imnick]

I don't think you understand how impossible this tier would be to balance, not only are the talents completely un-unified in theme but they have effects that would either be completely useless or too strong.

[Terminal Lance]

I don't think you understand how impossible this tier would be to balance, not only are the talents completely un-unified in theme but they have effects that would either be completely useless or too strong.

lol why are you so worried about balance? Is this the Beta tuning phase for stuff that hasn't/won't be implemented thread?

[Wiergraf]

Some cool ideas here, here's some of mine:

Minor Glyphs:
- Glyph of Mana Shield (Fire, Arcane): Changes your Ice Barrier into Mana Shield.
Explanation: Mechanic could be the same as Ice Barrier, doesn't really matter. The idea is to offer Fire and Arcane an alternative to the current visual effect.
- Glyph of Arcane Anomaly (Arcane): Your Arcane Missiles now fly in an unguided pattern.
Explanation: Pretty much the same spell, except its visual effect. The idea is to make the spell behave more like Arcane Torrent from Diablo 3. I just love that spell!

Major Glyphs
- Glyph of Cold as Stone (Frost): Your Fingers of Frost now also affects Cone of Cold.
Explanation: This should already be a thing, it just makes sense IMO.

[LocNess]

Some cool ideas here, here's some of mine:

Minor Glyphs:
- Glyph of Mana Shield (Fire, Arcane): Changes your Ice Barrier into Mana Shield.
Explanation: Mechanic could be the same as Ice Barrier, doesn't really matter. The idea is to offer Fire and Arcane an alternative to the current visual effect.

I wouldn't mind just getting Mana Shield back, not like Fire or Frost use Mana otherwise.

[Elegiac]

Arcane

• Arcane Charges are now a resource that appears below the mana bar, rather than as a debuff.
• Arcane Explosion is now targetable on enemies or allies within 40 yards, and has a 20% chance per target struck to generate an Arcane Charge.
• Supernova is now a baseline Arcane ability and has been renamed Nether Vortex, possessing a 20 second cooldown and no longer knocking targets into the air, and it will always trigger Arcane Missiles when used. Additionally, any time you generate an Arcane Charge you have a chance to reset the cooldown of Nether Vortex.
• Slow no longer has a target limit and will automatically be applied by your Arcane Blast and Nether Vortex spells.
• Presence of Mind now provides six seconds of immunity to silence and interrupt effects when used rather than making your next spell instant.
• Evocation now heals you for 30% of your maximum health over its duration, and its remaining cooldown will be reduced by 10 seconds every time you kill an enemy that yields experience or honor.

Fire

• Heating Up and Hot Streak are no longer dispellable.
• Enhanced Pyrotechnics has been merged with Critical Mass to improve Fire's leveling experience.
• [New] Induction: Draws thermal energy from the surroundings, healing you for 10% of your maximum health after 3 seconds. Channeled. Killing an enemy that yields experience or honor will make your next Induction instant.
• Blast Wave is now a baseline Fire spell with a 20 second cooldown that will increase the cast speed of your next three Fireballs or Flamestrikes by 20%.
• Combustion's cooldown has been reduced to 25 seconds and it will deal its damage instantly rather than applying a periodic effect, dealing 50% additional damage if your target is affected by Pyroblast's periodic effect. Casting Pyroblast has a chance to reset the cooldown of Combustion.
• [New] Pyromaniac: Empowers you with fiery energy, causing your critical strikes to trigger Hot Streak rather than Heating Up, increasing your Combustion's damage by 50%, and causing your Ignite and Pyroblast effects to deal damage instantly rather than over time. Lasts 15 seconds. 3 minute cooldown.

Frost

• Your Water Elemental passively heals you for 1% of your maximum health per second while active, and your Elemental is healed for 10% of your Frostbolt's damage.
• Ice Block now heals you for 3% of your maximum health every second while under its effects.
• Deep Freeze no longer breaks on damage.
• Shatter has been removed. Instead, Fingers of Frost and Brain Freeze will now cause your Ice Lance and Frostfire bolt to be a guaranteed critical strike.

Talents

• Evanesce has been moved to the level 30 tier to replace Flameglow; additionally, it no longer replaces Ice Block.
• Mirror Image has been made a level 15 talent to fill the slot left by Evanesce; while active your threat is reduced to zero, and the images deal no damage, but each possess 30% of your maximum health.
• Alter Time no longer resets your position when used.
• Ice Ward has been removed and replaced:
  
  
• [Arcane] Wave of Force: Projects a cone of kinetic energy in front of the caster, dealing X Arcane damage and knocking affected enemies back before applying the Slow effect. Replaces Cone of Cold.
• [Fire] Heat Stroke: Your Blast Wave and Dragon's Breath spell now also slow affected targets by 75% for 6 seconds.
• [Frost] Frostbite: Your Cone of Cold spell now freezes targets in place for 4 seconds.
  
  
• Frostjaw has been removed and replaced:
  
  
• [Arcane] Heavy Polymorph: Targets affected by your Polymorph spell will be stunned for 3 seconds after the effect is broken, dispelled, or expires.
• [Fire] Impact: Assaults the target with molten energy, stunning them for 3 seconds. 30 second cooldown.
• [Frost] Permafrost: Your Frost Nova spell is now targetable at a location within 30 yards, and will leave an ice slick that slows enemies that enter it by 50%. This effect lasts for 10 seconds.
  
  
• Cold Snap is now a passive that grants your Frost Nova and Ice Block spells 2 charges.
• Nether Tempest no longer benefits from Arcane Charges, but has a chance to trigger Arcane Missiles every time it deals periodic damage to the primary target.
• Unstable Magic has been replaced:
  
  
• [Arcane] Arcane Potency: When you use Nether Vortex, you will trigger a free Arcane Barrage that will strike all targets affected by Nether Vortex for X Arcane damage.
• [Fire] Detonation: Your Pyroblast spell now explodes on impact, increasing its damage by 25% and dealing 25% of its damage to all targets within 10 yards of the primary target.
• [Frost] Ice Shards: Increases the damage of Ice Lance by 25% and causes it to shatter on impact, dealing 25% of its damage to targets within 10 yards.
  
  
• New talents have been introduced to replace Supernova, Blast Wave, and Ice Nova:
  
  
• [Arcane] Arcane Nova: Causes the target to explode with magical energy, dealing X Arcane damage to all targets within 15 yards and causing your next Arcane Barrage spell to strike double the number of targets. 10 second cooldown. Generates an Arcane Charge. Replaces Arcane Explosion.
• [Fire] Flame Nexus: Conjures a whirling storm of flame around the target, dealing X Fire damage immediately and a further Y Fire damage over 6 seconds. Reduces the cast time of your next three Fireball spells by 25% and makes your next three Flamestrikes instant. 25 second cooldown. Replaces Blast Wave.
• [Frost] Shatter: Causes the target to explode in a torrent of piercing ice, dealing X Frost damage to all targets within 10 yards. Each target struck has a chance to trigger Fingers of Frost. 1 minute cooldown. Replaces Frozen Orb.
  
  
• New talents have been introduced to replace Mirror Image:
  
  
• [Arcane] Focus Magic: Increases the damage bonus of your Arcane Power by an additional 15%, and while it is active your Arcane Barrage will refresh rather than consume Arcane Charges.
• [Fire] Firestarter: Your Pyromaniac spell also reduces the cast time of Pyroblast by 50%.
• [Frost] Arctic Winds: While Icy Veins is active your Frostbolt, Ice Lance, and Frostfire Bolt will split into three smaller bolts that each deal 40% damage.
  
  
• Rune of Power now automatically appears at the Mage's feet.
• Incanter's Flow has been replaced:
  
  
• [Arcane] Invocation: You gain 3% additional spell damage after consuming an Arcane Charge. Stacks up to 4 times, and lasts for 10 seconds.
• [Fire] Burnout: You deal 15% additional damage to targets affected by your periodic Fire effects.
• [Frost] Winter's Chill: When you gain Fingers of Frost, your spell damage is increased by 15% for 15 seconds.
  
  
• Overpowered has been renamed Conservation of Energy.
• Kindling has been renamed Molten Fury, and increases your critical strike chance against targets below 35% health by 25%.
• Arcane Orb has been renamed Pulsar.
• Meteor critical strikes can now activate Heating Up or Hot Streak.
• Comet Storm now triggers Brain Freeze.

[Alexand3r]

@Winkleslob I do like your Glaciate spell idea. It could work if tuned properly.
@ButterBeast Love that idea! Would be a fantastic glyph.
@Ravester That would be an interesting way to polymorph.
@Terminal Lance Love that idea. It would be pretty fun to use and could work if implemented properly. Something like this could work in the Path System I proposed in another thread (if there's a Battle Mage path. See the link in my signature).
@Wiergraf Nice ideas!
@Didactic Woah, I really, really like your ideas. I'm not too sure about Supernova becoming baseline (although it would help Arcanists greatly) and your PoM idea would make Arcane much better in PvP, although I find a six second immunity to silencing and interrupting effects a little boring. Still, much better than what we currently have.
Your Evocation spell idea is something I'd like to see. I also love Induction. I support your proposed changes to Evanesce and Mirror Images. The Alter Time change could be a glyph though, I like the fact that it resets your location.
Wave of Force, yes, please. And yes, please to everything else you proposed! (I like the sound of Pulsar).

I tried to come up with a few changes that could make Arcane better in PvP whilst not making it overpowered.

--
First, Arcane doesn't have a precise theme.
- It is sometimes viewed as the spec. that annihilates its enemies with raw power.
- It is sometimes viewed as the spec. that deceives its enemies with illusion and other tricks.
- It is sometimes viewed as the spec. that alters the fabric of space and time.
- Sometimes Arcanists are viewed as being a master of the elements, capable of using spells from all schools (Arcane, Fire, Frost), even if these off-school spells are not as effective as Arcane spells.

So, here are my ideas. I thought it would be best to stick with avoiding, outwitting and overpowering the enemy so I preferred to not add Shield spell ideas (although I miss Mana Shield).

Improving Arcane's state in PvP

- Glyph of Rapid Displacement has been removed.

- Blink (Arcane) has now 2 charges, gaining a charge every 15 sec. In addition, your Blink spell can also be used while your Arcane school has been locked out.

- Whenever your Spellsteal steals a beneficial magic effect, you take 15% less damage from the stolen spell's school of magic. Lasts 5 seconds. Cannot be dispelled.

- Arcane Power instantly generates 4 Arcane Charges when used.

- Frostfire Bolt is once again part of Arcane's toolkit with an addition.

Master of the Elements: If the caster main school of magic has been locked out, the next Frostfire Bolt will be instant. This effect lasts 6 seconds and cannot happen more than once every 12 seconds.

- Presence of Mind has been changed.

Presence of Mind:

Instant. 30 sec. cooldown.

Improves the effectiveness of your next spell, depending on the amount of Arcane Charges you currently have, starting at 0. Unaffected by the global cooldown and does not consume Arcane Charges.

- Arcane Blast: Your next Arcane Blast will be instant and deal 0%/25%/50%/75%/100% additional damage.

- Arcane Explosion: Your Arcane Explosion will have its radius and damage increased by 30%/60%/90%/120%/150% and knock enemies back.

- Arcane Barrage: Your next Arcane Barrage won't consume Arcane Charges and its range will be increased by 5/10/15/20/25 yards.

- Slow: Your Slow cannot be dispelled and lasts 0%/5%/10%/15%/20% longer.

- Spellsteal: Your next Spellsteal will steal 1/2/3/4/5 additional beneficial effects.

- Blink: Increases the distance you travel with your next Blink spell by 2/4/6/8/10

- Polymorph: Your next Polymorph will be instant and will not heal your opponent.

PoM's Blink, Polymorph and Spellsteal effects could also be discarded if they prove being too strong. I'd add Arcane Missiles but I don't know how PoM could improve it (maybe the missiles could cause Arcane Explosion upon impact? Or maybe something like this would work better with Arcane Barrage). I think something like this would be fun and practical. The effects can be tuned to not make it overpowered.

I also would change Arcane's mastery. The current one is interesting but I don't like it and I feel it limits Arcane's potential. I don't know what could replace it though.

Considering my previous ideas, the mastery could be changed into:

Mastery: Annihilation - Increases your spell damage by 10% and the effectiveness of your Arcane Charges by 6% (Boring, I know)
or
Mastery: Annihilation - Increases your spell damage by 10%, the effectiveness of your Arcane Charges by 6% and the effectiveness of your Presence of Mind ability. (I don't know if a mastery that improved a specific spell would work.)

Apart from PoM and my mastery ideas, I think that the other changes could work and not make the spec. overpowered. I don't think the baseline Blink with two charges would make Arcanists insane. It will just make them more slippery and hopefully last longer in PvP.

[Ravester]

Another thing is presence of mind, which now has his use almost exclusively with arcane blast or frost jaw. The idea of presence of mind give 4 charges of arcane stacks seems perfectly to what it is proposed. In the past it was great with pyroblast, polymorph and later arcane blast, but now not even polymorph sinergy exist anymore, to not mention ring of frost which in the developer's mind "feel too powerful combined with presence of mind". So, what is the purpose of this spell? inconsistent running free.

[Alexand3r]

@Ravester Agreed.

By the way, I came up with a custom talent grid today, just for the fun of it (Some talents in the WoD grid are pretty nice, but I just felt like creating something of my own). http://wowtalentcreator.com/display.php?tree_id=22

There's another talent grid creator on the internet but this one is more visually appealing, although the text can be confusing (I think the fellow behind this tool will fix it sooner or later).



P.S.

If you know a pre-MoP talent tree creator, let me know! Can't seem to find one (I miss the old war-tools).