PvP-Fire or Arcane.

[Critpickle]

Ok so first off, If anyone thats just going to say ur a noob spec frost. I was frost for arenas then got tired of them and decided I wanted to BG pvp as fire or arcane. Which one should I choose? What are the pro's and con's of each as a pvp spec? Please answer in detail.

[S0V3R31GN]

I commend you for doing fire or arcane.

I would go fire though.

Frost = No respect

[Gnomity]

Arcane pros: slow?
Arcane cons: the spec frankly just sucks right now.

Fire pros: Some added survivability through cauterize and blazing speed, lots of AOE damage putting pressure on the enemy, blastwave for daze/slow, impact for stun.

Also, your thread subject indicates fire or frost, yet in the post you say fire or arcane, you don't want to frost anymore. Not very clear what you're going for.

[TTerminator999]

I commend you for doing fire or arcane.

Respect is earned through actions and deeds, not the spec you play. Unless it's Frost

Myself, I'm PvE Fire and PvP Arcane. I love Arcane's utility for PvP, it fits my playstyle quite nicely. It matters on you, in the end.

[rektbrah]

Why on earth would you play fire? It's not good at all compared to frost. I don't see why people want to play a sub par spec.

Back on topic, as stupid as it is, you're better off playing fire. Why? Survivability.

Frost has the best survivability but of course that's a 'noob spec' yet chances are you can't hit 1800 with it.

Fire has decent survivability yet no where near that of frosts. As fire you're prone to getting trained due to a) molten armour b) no imp CoC c) no cold snap d) no ice barrier e) no shattered barrier. What you do have though is dragonsbreath which is good, blazing speed as well as impact if used properly could be deadly. And we can't forget cauterize.

Arcane's terrible. Even if you stand back and turret damage in a bg, you'll go oom so quickly. Not only that if DK's connect you're gone.

Tl;dr

Fire is shit compared to Frost. Fire is better than arcane.

Fire is aoe damage orientated and little burst, arcane is single target, high damage, no mana and no survivabilty.

Frost all the way but since you're stubborn fire will have to do. Enjoy getting smashed by any mages you see.

[errosync]

Ok so first off, If anyone thats just going to say ur a noob spec frost. I was frost for arenas then got tired of them and decided I wanted to BG pvp as fire or arcane. Which one should I choose? What are the pro's and con's of each as a pvp spec? Please answer in detail.

Arcane is turret-y. It doesn't have much, if any, mobility. It does, however, offer a retarded amount of control compared to how the tree used to flow (hey, some is better than none, right?), which is a step in the right direction. If tweaks were made to Barrage so it wasn't like a buzzing gnat that wont' go away, it could be quite viable. Then again, I haven't touched the tree for PvP since TotC, so take that with a grain of salt. It still does offer fantastic burst, especially if nobody targets you can you can get 4-stack Ablasts off. God, those are delicious.

Fire is miles better than it was in Wrath. It's mobile and far better survivability, two things it definitely needed. The change to Blast Wave has made control better. I haven't tested it at 85, so I can't comment on its 'burst-a-bility' but the changes at 80 made it pretty retarded burst-wise. That, of course, was with gear that had nutty scaling, so I'm sure it's not as good, but it'll get better the further we get into the expansion.

I personally love the new Fire, and would highly recommend it, but mad props if you go Arcane.

[S0V3R31GN]

I made it to 1600 in 2s with a fire mage partner and he was undergeared only 2 pieces of pvp gear rest 333 blues and heroic blues.

[Critpickle]

Why on earth would you play fire? It's not good at all compared to frost. I don't see why people want to play a sub par spec.

Back on topic, as stupid as it is, you're better off playing fire. Why? Survivability.

Frost has the best survivability but of course that's a 'noob spec' yet chances are you can't hit 1800 with it.

Fire has decent survivability yet no where near that of frosts. As fire you're prone to getting trained due to a) molten armour b) no imp CoC c) no cold snap d) no ice barrier e) no shattered barrier. What you do have though is dragonsbreath which is good, blazing speed as well as impact if used properly could be deadly. And we can't forget cauterize.

Arcane's terrible. Even if you stand back and turret damage in a bg, you'll go oom so quickly. Not only that if DK's connect you're gone.

Tl;dr

Fire is shit compared to Frost. Fire is better than arcane.

Fire is aoe damage orientated and little burst, arcane is single target, high damage, no mana and no survivabilty.

Frost all the way but since you're stubborn fire will have to do. Enjoy getting smashed by any mages you see.

This was the kind of post I was hoping to avoid. But to reiterate I had absolutely no problems with Frost, I actually considered myself to be quite good. (not to brag) But frankly, I was just tired of the playstyle. However, I do appreciate the informative parts of your post so ty =)

[Straton]

My buddy plays Arcane pvp and has a blast. Those arcane blasts stacked are vicious, trust me I've witnessed him go 82-2 in Alterac Valley granted he had me pocket healing and no too many people targeting him but it was cool to see him put out all that damage. Of course if you get a Warrior or DK on you then Arcane is very limited in its control, in other words you're dead. The only real "control" I've seen is the polymorph damage stun and to be honest that talent just isn't enough.

I happen to like Fire especially when they change the moving scorch talent so that you won't need Molten Armor unless that was scrapped. Without that pyroblast proc though its damage can be mediocre but it definitely shines in the bigger battlegrounds like Alterac Valley etc. Like someone stated above Fire did get some survivability, moreso than Arcane, especially with the blast wave change.

If I had to choose I would go Fire since Arcane is too reliable on others' help without much survivability/control.

[Televators]

Fire is excellent right now but requires skill. Fire kites almost as well as Frost with moving Scorch + BW/Impact and Dragon's Breath owns shit in your face. You absolutely cannot be stopped from putting out pressure damage on tight groups (while moving) with LB/BW/FS/Impact/Combust and forcing healers to spread the heals around, then quickly focusing when HS procs. It's a lot of fun. I'm using it in Rated BGs and loving it!

[Darkdruidelf]

On my level 73 mage Ive been doing some fire pvp; its fun. Dot things up, run around scorching while they are dotted up, launching instant pyroblasts, very fun for BGs. Not sure about arena as it may lack the control that mages are really expected to have. But really, in bgs anything can be viable and good if it is in the right hands and the right situations...except disc priests atm :P

[patrin]

I made it to 1600 in 2s with a fire mage partner and he was undergeared only 2 pieces of pvp gear rest 333 blues and heroic blues.

a blind monkey with down-syndrome could hit 1600 in 2s.

[Baabinator]

I'm actually going to try Arcane Mage for PvP myself.

I think you will require a substantial amount of intellect (irl and ingame) and haste for it to work tho.

Just work those Arcane Missiles alot to avoid being OOM.

[Zecora]

I'll freely admit that I've never really tried fire or arcane in BG's myself, but I imagine the playstyle is quite different. Fire is all about mobillity, and I doubt that will change in the BG's, the limited slows etc. is probably also a good thing, and AOE on tight groups...well, can't hurt. I imagine Arcane plays a bit more like a rogue...chose your target and nuke hard, if things start to look grim, use your instant invisibillity or talented blink to escape.

I'd be very interested to know your experiences with whichever spec you go for though, Critpickle.

[daydayhyphy]

You guys obviously haven't pvp'ed as fire to it's limit. Frost better survivability??? I beg the differ