How is mage at 85?

[A Red Oval]

Hello.

I am among the unfortunate souls that did not get to test Cataclysm in beta. And as such I am still contemplating what class to go for in Cataclysm.

Is mages competitive DPS at 85? I play as arcane now, and am a bit bored of it, is frost a viable raid spec at 85?

If anyone reading this has tried night elf mages, is their casting animations like other elven casters?

I am not a hardcore player, so I look most to do 5 mans, and alt-raids with my guild. I am hoping mage is still simple to play, is it?

Sincerely

Selissi

[Deleted]

Yes, night elf mages cast like a welshman (same animations as others) and the DPS is kinda poor, at least 10% behind paladins and warriors so far. Arcane is pretty ok for heroics though but fire and frost are far behind even there as you can't really use LB when theres something CCd.

[Blitzkrieg Says]

I was really excited for the fire changes that came in 4.01...but considering how different the instances are going to be played from WotLK I'm kind of disappointed. Fire is great for ICC. It is damn good at getting massive ignites rolling and spreading them like an inferno across everything in the area. In my opinion, it's EXACTLY how I envision a mage playing.

Well, in Cataclysm you are going to be CCing in instances. And CC means you shouldn't rampantly spread fire damage through the entire group. I think, mechanics wise, it's a great change. But it kind of pokes fire in the eye. Also, fire has some pretty severe mana problems and you need to use mage armor a good bit. Also, at 85 your crit is going to suck badly. The new tier of hot streak helps a little, but it's going to proc a lot less than it currently does (assuming you have decent gear).

Arcane is somewhat difficult to manage. You can spew the "LAWL 1 BUTTON FACEROLL" all you want right now, it's rather irrelevant. Arcane at 85 is very, very mana intensive, and a good Arcane mage will absolutely annihilate a mediocre one on a damage meter. Who cares how many buttons you press? Why does that determine the difficulty of your class? The mana bar is an arcane mages rotation.

Frost is ok. It's great for the fact that you don't run out of mana, you have very good survivability, and half of the time you can cast while moving, which is always a plus. The damage is still pretty good as well. Personally, unless someone in the theory crafting area has an epiphany about fire or arcane, I will be playing frost in 5 man dungeons/heroics and probably the first raid tier. Obviously it depends on the boss, so arcane will probably be my offspec if there's something that fits the NUKE---slooowww----NUKE style that it plays.

The NE casting is the same (personally I hate it). And overall, I love the mage changes for cataclysm. Right out of the gates I don't think we're going to top the meters. But things change, and I'm going to play anyways

[Telaso]

The NE casting is the same (personally I hate it). And overall, I love the mage changes for cataclysm. Right out of the gates I don't think we're going to top the meters. But things change, and I'm going to play anyways

This.

Blizzard loves mages, they always give us the capability to do amazing things and bring amazing numbers. Only time will tell at how things really go at level 85.

Edit: I am confused on the stats you have chosen to show us on your Signature there Blitz....

[Stubb]

He's a tank duh. lol

[A Red Oval]

Thanks for the kind replies.

I am almost certain I will have my mage as m,y main for Cata, Blitz' reply was very reassuring to me, as I always did prefer frost as my spec, and if it is finally viable, I will be more than happy to use it.

[FastAction]

My mage is my main toon. I have my good days and bad days like anyone does. I ran ICC 25 the other day and was still getting some 60k+ crits. Not unusual I guess but I call it the glass cannon. I take about 5 shots and I die from over threat even using Omen.

[Maharishi]

My mage is my main toon. I have my good days and bad days like anyone does. I ran ICC 25 the other day and was still getting some 60k+ crits. Not unusual I guess but I call it the glass cannon. I take about 5 shots and I die from over threat even using Omen.

Mirror images is a god send for arcane nowadays, MI off the bat, invis 30 seconds in, and you're all set.

[xraid]

Mirror images is a god send for arcane nowadays, MI off the bat, invis 30 seconds in, and you're all set.

or just wait 5 more secs....

[Skarrd]

or just wait 5 more secs....

Why would waiting 5 seconds be better for dps than waiting zero? You'll lose 1-2 seconds on invis given haste/latency/reactions. That's less than 5 dudebro.

[Deleted]

Imo, i dont like the arcane mechanics., although i can see a good arcane mage bringing good numbers.
I like the fire mechanic a lot, but as said in numerous threads before, the lack of crit does make it kinda slow. Plus the mana problems you'll have in the first tier, are not very attractive.
So, that leaves frost. I didn't test this extensively at 85, but from what i've read about it on forums it seems te be able to compete in dps. Besides playing a spec with lotsa procs and the ability to burst on demand, this is prolly what ill be going for in the first tier, with arcane as offspec.

And then we wait abit until fire is fixed and we get better gear

[Voshus]

i wish they would just turn it back to the old arcane, ;_;

[Sveri]

i wish they would just turn it back to the old arcane, ;_;

This ...<3 TBC arcane! Well...I'm assuming thats what you mean! But either way! :P