Upcoming Mage changes

[Boubouille]

Upcoming Mage changes
You can also check the upcoming Death Knight changes below, news have been split to make the discussion easier.

The buffs here are designed primarily to make Arcane more competitive with Fire / Frostfire builds in PvE. Because they could end up buffing Arcane in PvP, we are prepared to adjust the damage of say Arcane Barrage if needed, but we want to see these in action on the PTR first.

Mage PvE damage in general is something we are keeping a close eye on. With the recent hunter changes, many of which were nerfs to PvE damage, we want to make sure mages now don’t break away from the pack of damage-dealing specs.

• Evocation – cooldown reduced to 4 min.
• Arcane Flows – now also reduces the cooldown of Evocation by an additional 1 / 2 min.
• Arcane Blast – overhauled. Will now increase the damage of your next Arcane spell by 30%. However using Arcane Blast itself does not consume the charge, but instead increases the mana of your next Arcane Blast, up to a maximum of 3 stacks. You can alternate Blast and Barrage to keep buffing Barrage, or you can build Blast up higher for a heavy mana cost.
• Torment the Weak – now works with Arcane Blast and does bonus damage to targets afflicted by any kind of slowing effect (e.g. Thunder Clap).
• Elemental Precision – renamed Precision and now works on all spells.
• Improved Blizzard – snaring effect reduced to 20/40/50%

EDIT: We recently made the Arcane Blast stack 15/30/45% to your next Arcane spell.

[Scarleth]

Is it just me, or is Blizzard's "Solution" to Mage mana issues to reduce the cooldown on Evocate ?

[LavaDuck]

You already got reduced cost to most of your spells.
Blizzard does it in baby steps :>

[greenmasheen]

its more competitive to FF spam, but people will probably still keep FF spam because its easier to press one button.

[Malentra]

These are interesting changes which make a lot of sense.  Not too much here that's surprising actually, considering they dropped a lot of hints.

I think the biggest surprise here is there is no corresponding nerf to Arcane Barrage.  I suppose this is because they expect Arcane's burst to be greatly diminished when PvP gear starts to scale survivability much higher, but still, the ability to cast AB one to three times on a Slowed target then rock them with a +15-45% damage Arcane Barrage and follow it up with a PoM pyro...could be a bit OP *grin*.  The side effect is of course opening up the mage to being locked out on his key Arcane defenses (mana shield, CS, blink, invis).    This is an important point because a (large) part of the OPness of Arcane spec in PvP was the high mobility this spec allowed while not opening itself up to lockout minus a 2.5s missile barrage of doom.

This really makes me want to try out Arcane again for PvE (I stayed Arcane from 3.0.2 in TBC until level 75).  Its a really fun spec and requires a lot more skill (now) to maximize the potential PvE damage than FFB or Frost does.  

This also fixes the Arcane haste scaling problems (arcane was haste soft-capped at 33%), though not the crit ones.  Not sure how much spirit is going to boost the damage of this spec though.  Its going to depend a lot on how desirable stacking an extra AB buff is going to be vs. releasing the lower damage ABar early to save mana.

Another important point: Precision change to nerf FFB (presuming the bugged extra 3% hit is gone with this change) + the change to Torment of the Weak brings Fire and Frost spec back into the mix of things for max PvE damage specs.  Looks like its going to be: Fire: More consistent damage, higher mana consumption; Frostfire, slightly lower or higher damage (depending on your crit%) and spikier damage, lower mana consumption.  Let the player decide the route.

In terms of overall damage, this is definitely a buff to the lesser used specs (Deep Arcane, Fire/Arc, and Frost/Arc).  It slightly nerfs Frostfire until mages regear accordingly. (need 367 rather than 289 hit rating to cap out FFB)

Mage damage is a tad high at the higher gear levels according to parses I've seen but is largely dependent on the RNG.  I don't know if this justifies it as high, or if Warlocks and Rogues (non-bugged) are just low.  And please don't quote that 6500 dps mage parse...its rife with inconsistencies.  :P

[Torrian]

This makes arcane spec very attractive again. As much as I do like frostfire 53/18 - the rotation is boring as hell. I'll be looking forward to trying out these changes on the PTR.

[OnTheHissay]

I was expecting nerfs, not buffs to the mage class. They're pretty much in the same position as hunters were before nerf, heavily benefitting from short CDs and getting insane dps as the boss encounters take less and less time to finish, hence more time % of the fight under the influence of cooldown related selfbuffs.

edit: Although these were buffs to the Arcane, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, balance wise. But Blizzard should ask themselves the same things they did before nerfing hunters, towards mages.

[dadou131988]

Good, they were needed in PVE

But I hope they will balance out PVP...

[Torrian]

But Blizzard should ask themselves the same things they did before nerfing hunters, towards mages.

Keep in mind that the proposed hunter nerfs still have yet to be tested on the PTR (along with these mage changes). Remember when the Pally nerfs were announced? Now look at the state of Pallies on live. What is announced and what will be implemented after testing are completely different.

[Catherin]

Post was edited. It's 15/30/45% more damage now, instead of 30%/60%/90%.

-Cath

[Pyrostemplar]

its more competitive to FF spam, but people will probably still keep FF spam because its easier to press one button.

Competitive FFB rotations are not single button fights, far from it:

LB
Scorch until cap
FFB
LB when out
Pyro on HS proc
FFB
Scorch to keep debuff up

May not be the most exquisite rotation ever, but far from single buttton macroed rotation...

[Fugazi]

Surprised seeing buffs and no pve damage nerfs. Kinda unfair when Hunters got overnerfed, BM was understandable but MM and Surv via steady was not.

Not like I want anyone nerfed, it is nerf to raid after all and sandbox arena can go die in a fire

[Sammysam]

Not too horrified by the changes. It makes me want to go deep arcane again if not for funzies. I like the cooldown reduction on evo, second one I believe since the expac dropped. Makes me not so fearful to go deep fire and blow my mana 8) Cheers.

[Spiderkeg]

While the nerf to Blizzard isn't a huge nerf, this does cut into the PvE AoE situations that frequent most instances, now.

[FlacidGladiator]

While the nerf to Blizzard isn't a huge nerf, this does cut into the PvE AoE situations that frequent most instances, now.

True, but consider the changes overall.  Torment the weak now effects Arcane Blast, combine a cone of cold or improved blizzard to slow a mob and pop Arcane Potency with several Arcane Blasts while you have mana shield up.  Encanters absorption buffs your AE damage with each hit on it while torment the weak and AP buff it even more.  You can burn down mobs fairly quickly enmasse then pop Ice Block to drop aggro or Mirror Image and/or instant invisibility to pull your butt out of the massive aggro you just pulled.  Granted, you'll be depleted at the end but you have the luxury of determining whether or not you'll get back into the fight, evocate, or stand around waiting for the group to come back and pick up their bodies.  You know...  Like F'ing Hunters do now.

The instant invisibility thing is the best buff for mages EVER. Get your butt in crap so deep they gotta drill for oil to find you then pop it and "Get Out of Dying Free" card every two minutes. WOOT!

[Sammysam]

The nerf to blizzard is a tad much imo, but the overall changes gives us a bit more to do and options are always good.

[Spiderkeg]

True, but consider the changes overall.  Torment the weak now effects Arcane Blast, combine a cone of cold or improved blizzard to slow a mob and pop Arcane Potency with several Arcane Blasts while you have mana shield up.  Encanters absorption buffs your AE damage with each hit on it while torment the weak and AP buff it even more.  You can burn down mobs fairly quickly enmasse then pop Ice Block to drop aggro or Mirror Image and/or instant invisibility to pull your butt out of the massive aggro you just pulled.  Granted, you'll be depleted at the end but you have the luxury of determining whether or not you'll get back into the fight, evocate, or stand around waiting for the group to come back and pick up their bodies.  You know...  Like F'ing Hunters do now.

The instant invisibility thing is the best buff for mages EVER.  Get your butt in crap so deep they gotta drill for oil to find you then pop it and "Get Out of Dying Free" card every two minutes.  WOOT!

True, but everything you said relies on the mage to be arcane spec'ed.  If someone is deep frost than they'll see the Blizzard nerf as simply so, a nerf.  Having the mobs slowed down considerably permits the mage to keep up the strong AoE, while melee can continue to whack-a-mole from the inside.  With less snaring available, there is a greater chance the mage will have to interrupt the channeling of Blizzard to cast Ice Block, invisibility, or mirror image, wasting mana on ending Blizzard prematurely.

[Marvdatboi]

Christmas came early this year it seems.... When I get my new computer I'm so taking my Mage from 70-80 instead of lvling my lvl 12 rogue lol.

[Shatteryoface]

I dont see the nerf to blizzard being that bad. Ofcourse with my spec i will still have a 60% slow effect on blizzard plus fb procs, so im not worried.

[Spiderkeg]

if your having issues with mana as a mage you should L2P your class dood 

Heh, that's such a typical "I have nothing helpful to add" response.  I love having the Evocation cooldown reduced.  Without chugging down mana pots as an option, long boss fights or long stints of AoE casting become a huge "beat the clock" issue with cooldowns.

On a side note, in case Blizzard staff are reading these posts, I'm not at all against having Evocation dropped to a two minute cooldown.