What will you be raiding as in 3.3.3?

[Sephyan]

It seems to me that alot of these things (specs) are chosen because some sponsored individual of a guild who's sole purpose in life is to mage away.

I think few people take into account reality. The fact of the matter is, aside from some fights in which one spec is clearly favored over the other, both specs are quite similar in terms of dps and damage done; sometimes lacking in one area and making up for it in another.

Unless the fight is ridiculously short, typically, unless the consistent dps rate far surpasses the capabilities of the other regardless of anything you can do, arcane will be the better dps and superior for burst; whereas fire will be the better in damage done. This certainly isn't an always case scenario, but it's something you could likely expect.

Take into account raid composition, player competence, reaction, latency, gear. All these factor into what you're capable of ultimately as well.

Sure, rawr can help you ballpark yourself, but the majority do not consistently reach those rawr parse numbers.

All the specs are closer to another in terms of dps v.s. damage done than ever before, and now is likely the best time to chose whatever fits your play style.

Would a LK encounter be easier with an arcane mage? most likely, would it be doable with a frost mage present?, most likely.

Don't be FotM, use what you want, and make the best of it. Some outstanding mages can blow away the newest cookie cutter 'must-be' build that elitist jerks says rawr says you should be.

Not every story you hear of a fire or frost mage being neck and neck is an instance of a baddie arcane mage (because lets face it, it's not very hard to arcane mage).

[Needonboots]

I'll be raiding as Fire/TTW. Even though it'll be behind Arcane on a few fights. Why?

a) My mage is an alt raiding with a friend's guild. I won't top out damage either way, so I'd rather bring a potential raid buff, and have more fun than lolarcane spec.

b) We aren't working on hard modes, and I'm not in the OMGPROGRESS 10 mans they do, so min/maxing isn't quite as important.

c) I've played it more than arcane, am now gearing for it, and have LOADS more fun.

Were I raiding progress properly with my mage, I'd probably go arcane for some fights to squeeze the most. But I'm not, so I might as well have fun!

[hellpyre]

ive gone back to my fire spec, mainly cuz ive been fire since i started lvling in bc, (yea i lvled fire :P)

last night we ran our icc 25, there was our arcane mage, who sits in 4 pc sanc gear and almost all 264, and me, in my mainly 251 gear...

when i was arcane he beat me every fight, i never could catch up, last night obviosly i facerolled to the top on trash by a wide margin over everyone, but i was surprised to see i had essentially tied the arcane mage on marrow, beat him hard on deathwhisper, beat him on boat, tied him on deathbringer, and beat him on rotface, though he was ahead by a small margin on festergut.

maybe it was nice rng for my pyros, maybe i just play my fire spec better than arcane since im more used to it, but im happy having my fire back ^.^

[Bombthreat]

Fire/TTW for life!

I have always had this spec. I raided with it in ToC. Ulduar. Naxx. Never giving it up. I was the happiest little mage once I found out about the buffs. Have yet to get in a raid tho

[Siddarta]

Gonna put a nubquestion into this thread, I havent played fire since TBC and only raided as Arcane in WotLK, should I use fireball or frostfire bolt, is it really a big difference? Currently having 2.8k SP, 282 hit (w/o talents), 43.3% crit, 980 haste.

Trinkets are DFO264+spyglass 251

Some tips would be greatly appreciated

you have a dfo?

damnit.

[Hinalover]

I'm actually holding off on going back to fire. I leveld up as fire as well in TBC and stayed fire until Naxx 25 where I went FFB until I got the hit again to go fire. Stayed fire through Ulduar and into ToC. Then they made Arcane OP and that forced me to learn Arcane to be competitive. With the latest changes to fire, even though I want to jump ships now, I'm waiting on the trinket from Sindragosa to drop. That trinket alone is what is allowing fire to be competitive again. Once I can get my hands on that is when I'll go fire full time.