3.2.2 and Arcane Mages

[Nitrak]

With the new changes to the arcane spec, is any of you considering to spec it?

People from test server, please report your findings, if the changes are mana efficient enough, while the dps still equals the FB and the FFB spec.

Any additional thoughts are welcome aswell.

Imo the changes should make the arcane mage much more viable, though the moving part of an arcane mage (Due to AB buff wearing off), is still quite hurtful.

Maybe blizz should make it a buff you get, that wears off, once you exit combat (And stay out for like 30 secs).

[Micke]

I'll definatly try this out on PTR (but the patch is fucking 1.5gb!), but I dont have high hopes on it beating ttw FB

[Samin]

That I don't get it wrong: Missile Barrage has been reworked, so the old effect will not stay?
Nonetheless, I'll still play arcane wether or not it is viable for raid situations (because i run 5 man heroics max), would like to see it an alternative to fire.

[Ryft]

Samin: I dont know, would be great if we could get a Mage with access to the PTR to cofirm whether or not the old cast time reduction is still there.

[Delijica]

Arcane

* Missile Barrage: The effect from triggering this talent now removes the mana cost of Arcane Missiles. In addition, the chance for Arcane Blast to trigger this talent is now 8/16/24/32/40%. All other listed spells continue to have a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to trigger it.

From this statement I don't see why Missile Barrage won't increase the cast speed as well i.e. the proc will reduce the cast time of Arcane Missiles AND reduce the mana cost of Arcane Missiles to zero.

Edit: Quote fail.

[Micke]

the cast reduction is still there I can say right now, this is just an addition to its original effect

[Samin]

wow! I didn't expect that. That sounds really great now Hope tests can confirm this

[Micke]

tbh I had hoped they would have included arcane barrage in their plans to buff arcane, its such a beutiful spell that deserves to be used more

[Nillo]

tbh I had hoped they would have included arcane barrage in their plans to buff arcane, its such a beutiful spell that deserves to be used more

Maybe they don't want us to use it in PVE.

Looks like it'll be AB till MB procs now - finally I can have my two button DD alt .

[kinky31]

imo it will be really viable, i mean a thing that was against arcane was that u had to evocate on almost every cd and at that time a fire mage was still dpsing..since we get lower mana cost now and missiles proccing like crazy which will cost 0 mana we will last longer b4 evocating

i want some1 to test it and tell us how big is the number of the spell after the 4th ab

[Micke]

18% higher than after the third AB?

[Milamber]

3.2.2 Arcane > Fire

[Ravenrei]

Technically it removes Arcane Barrage from our rotation except for the situation to use it when we are on the move (obviously - but that is the case now as well). I am a bit concerned that they over did it. Right now Arcane could be a bit too powerfull again (with 40% probability, missile barrage will proc almost every time in the rotation 4xAB -> AM). We need PTR parse to confirm it though.

It is nice that arcane would now be a bit more mana efficient. (free AMs)

It is a nice boost however it does not solve the scaling problem, and I would like to see some raid buffs added to the arcane tree (brill aura with mana repl. and hast/crit/ or +spell power that would be so mage like -> but no likely to happen obviously ... but one can dream).

[Renoblade]

so if the stack is now 4x AB then we get more damage as well, right?
but i think blizzard will change the MB proc to make AM faster and Barr cost 100% less mana so you can think about if you like to use AM for damage or Barr for mana issues.
(wouldnt be happy, but still better than now)
now if they add Barr effect to only use 2 charges of the stack, it may be worth using Barr again.

[Scorage]

Also there is this little thing I liked to do when I was arcane.

AB x3, PoM AB. (With extra 30% Crit chance for big numbers. 38000 on Malygos, and 37000 on Thaddius. This was when AP was 30% and PoM was usable with it. I respecced fire after that 3.0.8 patch.)

Well, AB x4 PoM AB sounds cool too. Hehe, though yes, the spec will be even more boring to play then Fire.

"Watch Hot Streak procs, or have an add on to play the spec for you."

"Press 4, 4 times. (Yea, 4 is me main nuke gaiz yay) Then press X for the proc. Proc didn't happen? Press 4 some more."


Only thing to consider is, use the proc, when its up, or wait for the 4th Stack of AB debuff.

And I was disappointed to see Tree received no changes at all, so the scaling is the same. Haste will be prio, and crit can go to hell. Bloated tree is also bloated.

Meh, band aid fix at best once again. Though I guess I'll give it a shot, I like being a lil' Arcane Missiles Gatling Gun.

[JUNOX1]

As a current arcane mage, i gotta say I am amazed that blizz finally made a change that i cant complain about.it seems that they actualy put some thinking in it so it wouldnt be OP in arena but still be good in PvE. only 1 thing worrys me

Missile Barrage: The effect from triggering this talent now removes the mana cost of Arcane Missiles.

i hope thats just in addition to the speed up buff and not replacing it.

[rathok]

wow... with those MBarr changes i think arcane just took the seat as viable raid spec #3, gogo blizz!

[Lordender]

it'll just get hotfixed after 8hours of being on live(lol)

I hope these changes stick, I am a fan of arcane.

[Aristodemos87]

Altho I encourage the changes being made to Arcane, for it is the spec I love playing the most, I have my doubts with these changes.

The reason why Arcane is/will fall behind is because of 2 things in my opinion; Poor scaling with crit, wich the t9 setbonusses are all about and
poor scaling of our main nuke, with it being a 2.5 sec cast. *Ill try and get the coeffecients here to further elaborate my point*

The real problem arises when people will get decked out in 4 piece Tier9 with all the nice gear that comes along. Without the set Arcane should
be more powerfull than Fire to compensate for the extra benefit Fire (and especially Frostfire) get from the setbonuses. Not to mention spellpower
will go up overall and again Arcane takes a hit due to scaling.

The current changes seem abit much all of a sudden and I am wondering if these are the changes Arcane needs to become viable again.

[Coreboom]

Altho I encourage the changes being made to Arcane, for it is the spec I love playing the most, I have my doubts with these changes.

The reason why Arcane is/will fall behind is because of 2 things in my opinion; Poor scaling with crit, wich the t9 setbonusses are all about and
poor scaling of our main nuke, with it being a 2.5 sec cast. *Ill try and get the coeffecients here to further elaborate my point*

The real problem arises when people will get decked out in 4 piece Tier9 with all the nice gear that comes along. Without the set Arcane should
be more powerfull than Fire to compensate for the extra benefit Fire (and especially Frostfire) get from the setbonuses. Not to mention spellpower
will go up overall and again Arcane takes a hit due to scaling.

The current changes seem abit much all of a sudden and I am wondering if these are the changes Arcane needs to become viable again.

get coefficients? just do the formula yourself (2.5 / 3.5)x100= 71.43%, 80.43% after arcane empowerment is taken into consideration.

i really wish people would learn class mechanics and understand the math behind this game before they start talking out of their asses.