Will Arms be a viable PvE spec in Cata?

[Azoron]

The title says it all. I really hope it does, I never was one for waving two big swords around, what do you guys think?

[prodron]

It looks like it will be, but with the removal of the TG nerf and overall how amazing the fury tree looks, the chance of Arms beating out TG fury or even SM fury is pretty slim.

If Arms can do the same DMG as fury, why would anyone gimp themselves into waiting for 2 weapons of equal value.

[Deleted]

I would like to be arms PvE and PvP but as prodron says im not sure they would ever make it better at the highest lvl of minmaxing ur char

[GhostSkull]

When was arms not a viable spec?

[SirTBone]

When was arms not a viable spec?

Since Ulduar and currently on the PTR.

Although warrior in general look bad still on the PTR. But I do have confidence Blizzard will figure it out. They always do.

[SLUSHER]

it's really going to boil down to what kind of collosus smash uptime sudden death gets you. if you can get upwards of 75%+ arms (in theory) would scale better than fury. if the proc rate is bad or the buff duration is to short that you can't wait for the first to wear to reapply, then it's going to have a tough time beating fury.

Baseline as a warrior you have 30% uptime of 100% arp assuming you use it on cooldown, although fury dummy tests at 85 have shown you get more dps out of pooling rage before casting smash so it's more like a 22-25 sec cd. it's unfortunate that Smash is a level 81 ability because I have found very little actual testing on what this will be one guy in beta told me 60-80% uptime but thats pretty wide I'd like to see it for myself if I can't get more solid numbers.

[Groznar]

I've always loved Arms. It's always been my favorite tree by far. However I doubt we will ever see it as being as viable for the same reasons Frost isn't as viable for mages. When you start buffing the tree it shifts the balance in PvP making a strong PvP class even stronger. PvE has been nerfed due to arenas countless times since they were introduced, I don't see that changing even with the introduction of rated bgs.

Edit: And to be fair, it was only viable in early Ulduar since the big nerf to TG, once people got 239 gear, like DW heroic General swords, Fury smoked it once again. Sadly.

[Valdemar]

I think it still will be, they've buffed Slam and Colossus Strike has replaced Execute in Sudden Death, so that give it a marked advantage over Fury. However, Fury has a straight up 5% damage increase, a better 31 point talant (for PvE). I don't exactly know how Unshackled Fury works, but Strike of Oppertunity would also increase your damage by quite a bit. Deadly Calm would also be exceptional, it's a counter-rage starvation cooldown. On top of that you have *significantly* more rage generation than Fury.
I have been Arms since Ulduar, and after I got a new computer, I had been the best DPS in my old guild, as Arms, in ToC and early ICC (albeit, they had maybe 5-10 good players).
I've made this spec: http://cata.wowhead.com/talent#LG0cfRMRufzcdr
Now, alot of talents are interchangable, specifically whether you want more rage gen, or free HS crits. Rude Interruption won't always be used, but it'll give a nice advantage on bosses/mobs you can interrupt. It's really hard
to tell before we see how the gear affects us, but thus far on the PTR I've had minimal rage problems.http://cata.wowhead.com/talent#LG0cf...MZ0o:cRzMcmVzc

Try this one too, I skipped Incite and put a point into Blood and Thunder

[Groznar]

I'm not trying to be a dick, but if you're the best dps in any guild as Arms, you're in a guild of bads.

[RakuRaku]

I've been raiding as arms through the entirety of Wotlk. It's still raid viable if you know what you're doing.

You're not going to be topping charts, but you sure as hell will be bringing some damage. It's getting a bit buffed in Cata, so I expect more players taking the secondary option of arms dps over fury.

[prodron]

I've been raiding as arms through the entirety of Wotlk. It's still raid viable if you know what you're doing.

Oh dear.

[Groznar]

I guess people have different ideas of raid viable. You can do alright dps with arms, but you're doing several thousand less than you would be as fury. If you want to gimp your raid by all means.

[Nekrow Stilborne]

I really do hope Arms is [more] viable in Cataclysm as a PvE spec. When I first played it, it actually felt like a rotation that could pull decent numbers, not just "Lay face on keyboard, smash face uncontrollably against keyboard enough to scare household members" the way Fury is today.

...

Plus, Bladestorm > Titan's Grip. BALLERINA TWIRL OF DEATH FTW!!!!

[Daljo]

it's really going to boil down to what kind of collosus smash uptime sudden death gets you. if you can get upwards of 75%+ arms (in theory) would scale better than fury. if the proc rate is bad or the buff duration is to short that you can't wait for the first to wear to reapply, then it's going to have a tough time beating fury.

Baseline as a warrior you have 30% uptime of 100% arp assuming you use it on cooldown, although fury dummy tests at 85 have shown you get more dps out of pooling rage before casting smash so it's more like a 22-25 sec cd. it's unfortunate that Smash is a level 81 ability because I have found very little actual testing on what this will be one guy in beta told me 60-80% uptime but thats pretty wide I'd like to see it for myself if I can't get more solid numbers.

From the brief time that I was arms, I can say SD procs a decent amount. Sometimes even after having just used Colossus Smash.

But yeah, Fury is awesome. The reduction to Enrage proc chance is going to hurt a little though, even if it is small.

As a matter of fact, I think Single Minded Fury is actually better than TG. I don't know though, not tried one handers yet.

I really do hope Arms is [more] viable in Cataclysm as a PvE spec. When I first played it, it actually felt like a rotation that could pull decent numbers, not just "Lay face on keyboard, smash face uncontrollably against keyboard enough to scare household members" the way Fury is today.

...

Plus, Bladestorm > Titan's Grip. BALLERINA TWIRL OF DEATH FTW!!!!

Fury is a lot more dynamic than it is now, plays quite similar to Arms. Both require procs, to an extent, for heavy damage and both use a combination of filler attacks in between these procs.

I can honestly say I really do feel like a berserker when playing a TG Warrior.

[GhostSkull]

I guess people have different ideas of raid viable. You can do alright dps with arms, but you're doing several thousand less than you would be as fury. If you want to gimp your raid by all means.

It is true that the meters love Fury, but it has been my experience that raids fail on fight mechanics and interpersonal conflicts.

[SwollPatroll]

I really hope arms comes out to be at least a little more viable. I've always loved arms and I would love to play it without losing too much.

[Vesheke]

The title says it all. I really hope it does, I never was one for waving two big swords around, what do you guys think?

Choose Single Minded Fury and wave around two regular sized weapons?

[Samyaaza]

I wanna do dps as prot, qq. Anywho I'm looking forward to viable PvE as arms for a change, never liked fury even a slightest bit.

[Deleted]

From the stuff I have read and seen so far, arms is "ok" in pve but not great, though I hear blizz are working to fix this.