Anyone else tired of flames and rants with little to know proof or total lack of knowledge of game mechanics? For instance i just read an anti-mage post which could have been great if he had posted something other than "How many SKILLED mages are there". this is where i stop reading the thread and look for a decent discussion that includes people that bg or arena. but i do want to hit on mages a little bit.
preface: i have a mage i enjoy playing and several other 80's that i avidly pvp on. tho i do have some concerns that will more than likely lead to even more pvp ownage with little effort or to just being nerfed into the ground.

as we are well aware mages got several new abilities as did other classes but ill make a list to highlight some concerns:

-mage armor buff: mage armor still increases resistances and reduces magic debuffs by 50% as always but also gives 3% max mana per 5 seconds.
:this in itself doesnt sound like much, but believe it or not frost mages during wrath had to watch their mana somewhat in pvp. this gives them much more dispelling capability and makes watching mana a fossil in mage pvp. this excess of mana also gives rise to them using mana shield every cd when applicable. one thing blizz could do to fix this would be to make the 3% regen every 5 seconds to be deep arcane or just one of the arcane specializations as arcane needs this for their pve dps while the others do not.

-ring of frost is channeled but also freezes anyone who enters for 10 seconds....need i say more.
:with the already full snare/slow toolbox of the frost mage what on earth made someone think they needed another slow/snare? a totally unlooked for ability that i have no thoughts on atm. seeing as how i have yet to see it used in live but if they wanted to give the mage something unique why not make the water elemental a permanent pet? o wait they did

-water elemental is now a full time pet and is healed for 15% of the mages damage

-cone of cold also snares u for 4 seconds now (specced but what pvp mage wouldnt take this ability)

-"early frost" a new 1st tier talent that reduces the cast time of frostbolt by .7 seconds(15 second internal cd)
:this just gives them more utility any bg/arena/world pvp setting

-time warp: a.k.a. lust/heroism/ancient hysteria(hunter)
:when i first heard about mages gaining heroism i didnt understand why, and still dont. but i guess they had to give it to someone so there ya go. yet another buff to their already high shatter combo burst.

-buff homogenization: the advent of bring the player not the class mantra has reached its zenith with the homogenization of nearly every buff in the game. this means in any pvp setting, a mage has to only spellsteal maybe 2 or 3 things off an enemy target drastically reducing said targets survivability depending on how much the target needs buff protection.
i.e. rets were already dominated by decent mages and now any mage that knows spellsteal will strip that freedom/wings that much quicker. tho this applys to alot of specs ret was the best example

- <insert your own concerns that i havent hit on as im tired and just want to get this out there for some feedback>

this concludes the obvious buffs ive seen mages attain with the shattering and with their high representation in high end arena already i wonder if this will lead to complete dominance or just lead to a nerfbat to the dome

p.s. anyone who has been on beta that can contribute to this discussion is more than welcome!

credentials: lvl 80 warrior/lock/mage/dk/paladin/hunter/rogue/druid
ive tested out all of their respective specs/changes and mage concerns me the most but ferals damage is up there too high atm and havent really been keeping track on it. locks damage was just too high as i experienced myself on both sides of the isle and i saw the 12% damage reduction coming a mile away. but the concerns i have for mages is just too much control/utility/survivability on top of burst if played right. i just see them as dks s5 atm and thats all i got to say about that.
(also should be said that ive reached 2200 in 2v2 5v5 as ret/holy tho thats not saying much and 2150 3v3 as ret never 3v3'd as holy/ 2200 3v3 lock)