Another "Help me" thread

[kyoharu]

So, I'm a mage (duh), just recently went Arcane. My gear isn't bad, I feel like I'm socketing correctly, and my rotation is what everyone says it should be (Tried ones that say not to use Arcane Barrage unless moving, and ones that say to use it after 4 Arcane Blasts), but my DPS is still low amongst the other mages in my guild...and just other DPSers in general. Unsure what exactly I'm doing wrong.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...rthas&n=Issaru

There is my Armory, any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks

[Swizzle]

bad enchants:

cloak
chest
weapon
legs
boots


bad gems:

helm
belt
legs
boots

other critiques:

low spellpower
too high hit
high crit
average haste
take out all points in SotM
put an extra point into IA
place the other 2 points where you like (i recommend MA, magic absorption, unless you're having range issues which can be attributed to bad placement)

[kyoharu]

Well, I guess it's fine you say those things are bad....so what would make them good?

[Needonboots]

take out all points in SotM

SotM improves both Crit and regen. Why wouldn't you use it? (Serious question, I'm still levelling my mage, I'd rather get the knowledge BEFORE I hit 80)

[Praxis]

You have no enchant on your cloak. 8 stats on chest instead of 10. 23 sp on bracers instead of 30. 50 SP on weapon instead of 63. SP/Stam leg enchant instead of SP/Spirit. You're using +20 haste gems, but you should be using red SP in all slots except your two purples to activate your meta, and the usual exception of orange sp/haste gems for very good socket bonuses. You have 18 spirit on your boots for some reason. You should replace it with Tuskarr's Vitality imo.
And yes, definitely lose a lot of hit. You can safely lose 4% or more depending on your group makeup. If you have a moonkin or shadow priest, and a draenei, you can run with 7% hit from gear.

Swizzle really hates Student of the Mind. It's not the worst talent ever, but I also prefer Magic Absorption.

[DirewolfX]

Enchants: Mostly, you just cheaped out and got the crappy versions of enchants. Go spend money on the real stuff. For legs, you want the 50sp/20spirit one, not the stamina one (stamina does nothing for you). For boots, you still want 12 crit/12 hit. It's superior to 18 spirit. For cloak, put a lightweave on that (I'll assume you just got it and haven't had a chance yet).

Gems: Never, ever use a pure yellow or blue gem. You should always use either a pure spell power or spell power hybrid gem. Put a Purified Dreadstone in your hat for that tasty 9 sp socket bonus. Replace the 20 haste gems in your belt and boots with spell power/haste gems (Reckless Ametrine). Replace the 20 haste gems in your legs with either Runed Cardinal Ruby (spell power) or Purified Dreadstone (spell power/spirit).

Didn't look at your spec, but I'm sure Swizzle's comments about that are correct. SotM is not great for Arcane, because we do not need the regen and the crit bonus is miniscule (also, crit is weak for Arcane). At this point in progression, our intellect pools are high enough that we can keep up mana with replenishment and evocation fine.

For hit, you will want to eventually switch items with hit out for items with haste. Overcapped hit means you're wasting itemization budget. An easy option is to get the crafted Merlin's Robe and get the tier 9 pants instead of the ones you have. I wouldn't worry about having too much crit--it's not a bad thing, but in general, you should gear for haste after spell power as Arcane.

[kyoharu]

Yeah, I was deep fire until recently, that's why I still have so much Hit rating on my gear. And I did just get that cloak. THanks to you all and I'll keep what was said in mind.

[Skarrd]

Swizzle really hates Student of the Mind. It's not the worst talent ever, but I also prefer Magic Absorption.

It's the worst dps talent in the tree, no questions asked. The crit you gain from it is as close to meaningless as it can be as an arcane mage. It is the single smallest dps gain in the tree by a large margin, and there are a lot of useful talents in the tree that boost dps by A) keeping you alive or B) being good for certain fights. If you were doing ulduar hardmodes before they were nerfed and you weren't running Magic Absorption you were holding your guild back. I had to use a health flask for our first algalon kill and it saved my life on 3 separate occasions on the kill shot (sub-1300 hp 3 times, that is). Mages are squishy as fuck.

[Swizzle]

SotM improves both Crit and regen. Why wouldn't you use it? (Serious question, I'm still levelling my mage, I'd rather get the knowledge BEFORE I hit 80)

point for point, it is the smallest DPS increasing talent, making the 3 point investment seem dodgy.

also, tuskarr's to boots is a higher DPS gain than ice walker, keep that in mind.

i personally prefer magic absorption over magic attunement mostly because after all this time in ToGC as arcane, i've learned where i should stand to maximize DPS without ever having to move, and since i have rocket boots, the time spent where i HAVE to move (ice howl stun, getting away from all the melee faction champs, possibly reaching a distant add/portal on jaraxxus) are minimal, and the damage reduction/mana refund from absorption is kinda of up my alley (it refunded upwards of 2k+ mana on twins by itself, outside the 7k+ from frost warding).

you will almost always have 2 left over points to spend in arcane, and they are what we like to call flavor points. put them where you see the biggest return, be it push back protection/range/or mana refund.

[TruffleMuffin]

also, tuskarr's to boots is a higher DPS gain than ice walker, keep that in mind.

Tuskarr's is a 8% run speed increase. This does not effect DPS in any direct manner, and indirectly only by a fraction of an amount in the smallest of circumstances.

i've learned where i should stand to maximize DPS without ever having to move

I realise you mean you do move, just only when required. However, your statement here totally contradicts the tuskarrs comment. Either you move so much 8% actually helps your DPS a lot, in which case why? how? and where? Or you have put Tuskarr on your boots because you read it on the internet somewhere and it sounded like a good idea but don't know why.

I would recommend Tuskarr if you have no hit rating issue (otherwise ice walker is very helpful in reaching the cap). The minor speed increase can help a lot for survivability (avoid Icehowl on HM is the easiest circumstance that springs to mind). The crit rating on icewalker is nice, but not necessary, I try to maintain about 40% crit with Molten Armor at the moment so that I get about 50% of all casts criting (talents for the extra %). While many here downrate Crit strike value because it scales badly, I would agree it does, however it is not a scaling stat, it is a Base stat for a mage of any kind. If you think you don't need it, see what your DPS is when x% of your casts don't crit, I garentee it will be a large drop.

I would always recommend Reckless Amertrite and Purified Dreadstone for blue/yellow sockets. A lot of people stack +23SP gems in these slots, but I have seen a much large DPS increase with extra haste (my gear doesn't have a lot of haste so with gems I am about 500). In circumstances where you have lots of haste on gear, then certainly the +23 SP is the right choice, but be sure you have a sub 2.00second cast on Arcane blast before considering the move. 2.00 seconds is just a guide, but at this point you are touching the GCD with BL + Icy Veins. At 2.00 seconds you now have to decide if you split cooldowns or not.

[Daytrader]

point for point, it is the smallest DPS increasing talent, making the 3 point investment seem dodgy.

also, tuskarr's to boots is a higher DPS gain than ice walker, keep that in mind.

i personally prefer magic absorption over magic attunement mostly because after all this time in ToGC as arcane, i've learned where i should stand to maximize DPS without ever having to move, and since i have rocket boots, the time spent where i HAVE to move (ice howl stun, getting away from all the melee faction champs, possibly reaching a distant add/portal on jaraxxus) are minimal, and the damage reduction/mana refund from absorption is kinda of up my alley (it refunded upwards of 2k+ mana on twins by itself, outside the 7k+ from frost warding).

you will almost always have 2 left over points to spend in arcane, and they are what we like to call flavor points. put them where you see the biggest return, be it push back protection/range/or mana refund.

I think this is the 2nd post I've seen from you Swiz that makes sense and i agree with.

You were on point, except that none of the unavoidable damage in ToGC requires push back protection. So i would not put the points there. The options are really mana refund+resistance or range.

As far as the boot enchant, Tuskarr's separates the men from the boys (or in WoW terms, the raiders from the casuals).

Also, SotM does offer more spread sheet DPS than the other "flavor points", but in practice MA and AM are better. Even though on a spread sheet MA and AM are zero DPS per talent point. Same with Tuskarr's.

[Swizzle]

Tuskarr's is a 8% run speed increase. This does not effect DPS in any direct manner, and indirectly only by a fraction of an amount in the smallest of circumstances.

I realise you mean you do move, just only when required. However, your statement here totally contradicts the tuskarrs comment. Either you move so much 8% actually helps your DPS a lot, in which case why? how? and where? Or you have put Tuskarr on your boots because you read it on the internet somewhere and it sounded like a good idea but don't know why.

I would recommend Tuskarr if you have no hit rating issue (otherwise ice walker is very helpful in reaching the cap). The minor speed increase can help a lot for survivability (avoid Icehowl on HM is the easiest circumstance that springs to mind). The crit rating on icewalker is nice, but not necessary, I try to maintain about 40% crit with Molten Armor at the moment so that I get about 50% of all casts criting (talents for the extra %). While many here downrate Crit strike value because it scales badly, I would agree it does, however it is not a scaling stat, it is a Base stat for a mage of any kind. If you think you don't need it, see what your DPS is when x% of your casts don't crit, I garentee it will be a large drop.

I would always recommend Reckless Amertrite and Purified Dreadstone for blue/yellow sockets. A lot of people stack +23SP gems in these slots, but I have seen a much large DPS increase with extra haste (my gear doesn't have a lot of haste so with gems I am about 500). In circumstances where you have lots of haste on gear, then certainly the +23 SP is the right choice, but be sure you have a sub 2.00second cast on Arcane blast before considering the move. 2.00 seconds is just a guide, but at this point you are touching the GCD with BL + Icy Veins. At 2.00 seconds you now have to decide if you split cooldowns or not.

doesn't change the fact that tuskarr's is still better than ice walker, especially for arcane. not only does it let you set up faster, it also makes getting away from OH SHIT moments and getting back go by faster, which in WoW terms is a DPS increase (could make the difference between life and death while kiting anub). the reason i said i personally can get away without range talents or run speed enchant is my rocket boots. if you're not an engineer or are uncomfortable with positioning due to lack of experience or w/e, then the range filler talent is for you.

[DirewolfX]

I've never had a need for Tuskarr's. I've learned to minimize my movement time and maximize my effectiveness while moving. The slight extra time you get from moving out of the way of a fire 0.1 seconds faster needs to be balanced against the extra 12 hit and 12 crit from Icewalker. If you know the fights and plan where you need to be ahead of time, you won't miss the 8% run speed that much. It hardly separates the men from the boys.