Frost going Arcane - Could Use Some Pointers

[Scyclone]

Hello Everyone,

I am recently switching over to Arcane after having been playing Frost all this time. I have about 54% Mastery, 10.5% Haste (Yeah I know it sucks), with ilvl 711. Currently, I have my 4-set, Legendary Ring, Seethe Trinket but neither Prophecy or Class Trinket .

With that stated, I noticed the Arcane Guide is out of date and I am trying to figure out some of the best ways to get myself up to snuff. A few minor things on me, I prefer passive talents (Even if they aren't 100% optimal) where available, so I have taken UM, IF, and OP mostly since both the Rune and the whole Crystal concept just sounds disgusting to me (I lose track of things like that while focusing more on dodging things/killing the right targets).

Would anyone be able to provide me with some guidelines that do not overly emphasize the need to use things like PC and what not? I am trying to figure out the best way to optimize my burn and recover phase, as well as when to use AM instead of AB, or how to properly use my Arcane Power buff with my damage dealing.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Deleted]

This is not what you want to hear but it has to be said in this case because unlike Frost, this isn't a minor advantage, it's vital on this spec. Prismatic Crystal is pretty much required on regular single target because unlike frost (for Icy Veins) the burn phase is extremely important. As for the basics you can read the basic guides though it might be hard to find one that would describe regular single target rotation without it for the aforementioned reason.

[Natrii]

I'm Scared when I have to make that transition...I'm Frost geared...Mulit/crit...either optimal for arcane. I will cross that bridge when I get there.

[Sylvaeres]

If you're crit/multi geared, stay frost. There's going to be no benefit to going arcane unless you have the gear to sustain it

[Yizu]

A few minor things on me, I prefer passive talents (Even if they aren't 100% optimal) where available, so I have taken UM, IF, and OP mostly since both the Rune and the whole Crystal concept just sounds disgusting to me (I lose track of things like that while focusing more on dodging things/killing the right targets).

Arcane relies HEAVILY on burn phases, stacking procs and properly using mark of doom is what makes arcane good. You NEED to track stuff like these you also need to track boss kill timers so u know if you can delay CDs and stars align for max damage. If you play it passively and just use your cds when up there's really no point of switching from frost, frost will be so much better for passive gaming.

Its really not hard to track these stuff using addons, if you can only use 1 addon make sure you have weakauras to track everything. Make sure you setup your UI properly to track these stuff while you can focus on mechanics. People telling you dont need addons to play this game are just dumb or dont have the mental capacity to use them or just plain lazy.

[Sylvaeres]

Arcane relies HEAVILY on burn phases, stacking procs and properly using mark of doom is what makes arcane good. You NEED to track stuff like these you also need to track boss kill timers so u know if you can delay CDs and stars align for max damage. If you play it passively and just use your cds when up there's really no point of switching from frost, frost will be so much better for passive gaming.

Its really not hard to track these stuff using addons, if you can only use 1 addon make sure you have weakauras to track everything. Make sure you setup your UI properly to track these stuff while you can focus on mechanics. People telling you dont need addons to play this game are just dumb or dont have the mental capacity to use them or just plain lazy.

I use DBM and Exorsus. Besides that, all my adding are for outside of raiding. I'm neither lazy nor incompetent, and I could probably outperform most if not all of your guild. So please, if anything, the addon needers are the ones who need help. Try again nub

[kirielle]

I use DBM and Exorsus. Besides that, all my adding are for outside of raiding. I'm neither lazy nor incompetent, and I could probably outperform most if not all of your guild. So please, if anything, the addon needers are the ones who need help. Try again nub

A better UI makes a better player. You might be a very good player (although your logs don't look *that* exceptional particularly given your ring level) but improving your UI will still improve your play. It is arguably more important for lesser skilled players since it will probably provide a greater relative increase in optimal play.

[Deleted]

Yes track the basic cooldowns on TellMeWhen or Weakauras.

[HumbleDuck]

there is a fairly extensive guide at altered-time.com which is being kept up to dated. ( I prefer Dutchmagoz one.)
(I tried to link some of my WA & TMW stings, but apparently I cant post links since I have so little posts here at the moment)
Also please note, mage is one of those classes that you cant be mediocre in (specially arcane), you need to have a decent understanding of the spec and a fairly precise execution, casting even one single extra AB can be very punishing on your overall DPS in a pull.get WA and TMW addons, practice with crystal and get your hands on PoF and Tome asap.

[Zelendria]

Not relevant until you pick it up but a good WA for tracking PoF proc is highly recommended. A lot of DPS hinges on good use of these procs. Knowing it is up and efficiently finding it among a group is a must.
If you really don't want to use PC then at least use AO, as opposed to OP, as it's actually quite useful on a number of bosses.

[Yizu]

I use DBM and Exorsus. Besides that, all my adding are for outside of raiding. I'm neither lazy nor incompetent, and I could probably outperform most if not all of your guild. So please, if anything, the addon needers are the ones who need help. Try again nub

please link me a streamer who raids on top end guild who do not have weakauras AT LEAST

[Deleted]

That guy from Nihilum has the most vanilla UI I have ever seen. But he is good apparently. But all that default frames is meh.

[Deleted]

ot but i might aswell ask, i mostly play frost atm due to gear armory:http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...irana/advanced

what parts are vital to go arcane, and also do you go arcane on all fights or still go frost on fights with cleaving/aoe?

[Deleted]

Aquira first you need 4 set ofc. Second you also need atleast class trinket from Archemonde. Even the normal version will be huge upgrade for arcane. Third is the Profecy of Fear trinket from Mannoroth. That one also have huge impact on arcane's performance in HFC. Other than that i could additionaly recommend you to reroll the stats on your off hand to haste/mastery or haste/multistrike.

On the part with switching specs - some will say arcane is "king" on everything, some will say on xxx and yyy encounter you should be arcane and on www and zzz encounter you should be frost etc. I could only say that the encounters where frost really shines are Tyrant and Archemonde. Rest is personal preference and i advise you to make it so - a personal choice.

[Deleted]

On the part with switching specs - some will say arcane is "king" on everything, some will say on xxx and yyy encounter you should be arcane and on www and zzz encounter you should be frost etc. I could only say that the encounters where frost really shines are Tyrant and Archemonde. Rest is personal preference and i advise you to make it so - a personal choice.

There's some "perfection elitism" going around with Arcane and it's exacerbated by misreading Warcraft Logs since many of the top parses are Mark of Doom luck fests. I fully understand the utility advantage of it in certain fights either because of clear control or being single target. But I believe most mages ignore the fact of its RNG handicap, of its lackluckster conserve stage and its low [baseline, non-luck based] AOE and that shows to other raiders.

[Deleted]

well tbh i find frost to be more smooth to play and frome i heard less rng then arcane with the right parts. but frome what i heard peps say arcane is a most on mythic bosses but is such a rng based spec anygood compared to frost? are their any good frost mage who plays frost on mythtic and doing good?

[Deleted]

well tbh i find frost to be more smooth to play and frome i heard less rng then arcane with the right parts. but frome what i heard peps say arcane is a most on mythic bosses but is such a rng based spec anygood compared to frost? are their any good frost mage who plays frost on mythtic and doing good?

Arcane is huge RNG thats right. But in average its also very good and its still best for some fights even on progress. We tend to discuss all of it down to a good or bad opener but in the end in a 7-8 mins fight there is more than that. Also you are not the only person in the raid.

[Deleted]

I'm into the first few mythic bosses myself lately and I learned that some bosses that theoretically could use Arcane start favoring Frost if you're not having it down in a very predictable manner. In other encounters it doesn't matter much since Arcane can find the encounter itself too predictable even if the execution isn't, and in other encounters it doesn't matter much what of the two specs is used since both seem to have advantages the other doesn't. In most forums people ignore some of the severe utility disadvantages of Arcane while they talk extensively about its utility advantages and the utility disadvantages of Frost which I attribute to elitism.

[Deleted]

Yeah my raid leader tend to say this "One man does not kill the boss". On that note with logs and PoF rng swings - i discussed that thing with a coraider that play mage on another server. We had a bit of an "argue", because i started playing more frost than arcane. The things i told him:
1. If RNG gods bless you you will be god on the meters. If they don't you will a little more than a peasant (Imperator quote :P).
2. The current incarnation of Arcane is all about rng. I call it Fire v2.0
3. Frost is sustained damage. It cannot spike from some RNG. It cannot drop because you missed the said RNG. It is very consistent.
4. "Burning down specific target in a time frame"? Arcane can do that once 1,5 mins... Frost can do that with just simple banking of procs and the result will be same.
5. Im "dragging" down my raid group, because i don't play "optimally"(understand he basically said "yo mama suck cuz you dont play arcane" ) . Wait.. wut?!? What make you think i don't play optimally? The fact that im not top dps? I'm still at least top 5. On single target boss like reaver and fel lord the difference is in the range of 2 to 5k dps between my frost mage and our other arcane mage.

[HumbleDuck]

Arcane being superior in bursting down priority targets is a fact and not only every 1.5 minutes. I have seen single AB hitting for over 400k, that's not something you can achive as frost given you have the right gear ( banking procs means loosing overall DPS, specially with tome and 4pc, while arcane doesn't suffer like that) . But if you are geared towards frost, or your raid is not struggling due to lack of effective DPS, then its perfectly OK if you play the spec you enjoy the most.

About RNG, yes arcane depends on RNG, but even with bad RNG, you have a very very competitive DPS, RNG makes it being able to achieve extreme numbers.