Patch 5.2 PTR Mage Changes

[spaace]

30% haste/10 sec...

Unless it has close to 100% uptime....


Sigh..
Fire... Only in our dreams now..

[Deleted]

No, No and NO.. Its 30% haste as far as I know, and as frost and arcane that haste is wasted during hero/TW/BL.. So overall its prolly pretty even for all specs

You forget that You've to trade the actual meta-gem-bonus for it! (3 % increased critical effect!!!)

[mrgreenthump]

There's one that gives free casts. That would favor arcane. AAAnd now I see it says helpful spells...nevermind

"helpful spell"

[Sw1tch]

Hey would you look at that, the 2nd build in a row without any mage changes. The future is looking so bright.

[Methusula]

"helpful spell"

Derp. That's why I said nevermind.

[Polarthief]

Something tells me those gems are subject to change.

No mage changes again... maybe they aren't done with the dataming yet.

The gems HAVE to be subject to change because Hunters currently have no gem choice.

Also, that caster gem is crap IMO. I'm willing to bet it's a low procc chance, high ICD rate. Personally, I'd take the base Int and 3% Crit damage.

I'm kinda upset that it gives STAMINA over INT and a PROCC over pure damage (like Crit damage). This is becoming a rather disappointing set of "legendaries" we're being handed.

Finally, LOL no Mage changes AGAIN?! Really hope Dataminers missed something.

---------- Post added 2013-01-23 at 03:43 PM ----------

Hey would you look at that, the 2nd build in a row without any mage changes. The future is looking so bright.

Ikr? It's getting really irritating when GC promised changes to the issues of IW, RoP, and BS which has become even worse.

Also, how come Rogue gets a raid cooldown and we're left with our one-per-raid cooldown?

[Logix]

It appears Blizzard aren't done with mages yet, specifically Arcane:

Quoting Blizzard from here (apparently I cannot post links yet - its the Blue thread on the official PTR forums)

Mage
- For Arcane, we are going to try going down to 4 stacks (down from 6) that increase damage by 50% (up from 25%) and mana cost by 150% (up from 75%). Our goal for Arcane, which hasn't changed in some time, is for the spec to focus on mana management with the ability to go up to high DPS for a high mana cost when needed. We don't want Arcane to sit at max stacks all the time. As a player who is focused on maximizing DPS, you're going to want to maximize stacks, but it's not always going to be easy to do - that's the challenge of mastering the spec. The reason we lowered the stack size is we felt that having to build up to 6 made dropping stacks feel too punitive.
- Also for Arcane, Scorch deals 40% less damage for Arcane only, but its damage and mana are now increased by Arcane Charges. We agreed that previous iterations were too punitive for Fire and Frost. For Arcane, using Scorch as part of the base rotation won't be as powerful as it is today on live (which we feel violates the stack management I mentioned above), but it will increase with stacks.
- We are still iterating on Blazing Speed.

Interesting. I'm sure if Zom were not away on error retrieval duty, he would no doubt do his now infamous "I told you so" dance. Needless to say, the reduction of Arcane back to 4 stack does, at least, alleviate the "ramp up" issue that has been discussed numerous times now. However, one slight nugget of truth we might also glean from Ghostscrawler's statements is the reinforcement of the idea that Arcane is, indeed, meant to play cyclically, i.e. build stacks, drop stacks, rather than any form of 'camping' strategy. Im my humble opinion, this is a good thing, if nothing else, but since we do not have to keep 'guessing' what the intent for the spec is.

The scorch change is interesting if a bit vague. I wonder if these changes will make the latest PTR build.

That being said, I'm off to redo the models. I have a feeling certain things will change in an unexpected way. I shall keep you informed of my investigation and results.

[Polarthief]

@Logix-above-me

- For Arcane, we are going to try going down to 4 stacks (down from 6) that increase damage by 50% (up from 25%) and mana cost by 150% (up from 75%). Our goal for Arcane, which hasn't changed in some time, is for the spec to focus on mana management with the ability to go up to high DPS for a high mana cost when needed. We don't want Arcane to sit at max stacks all the time. As a player who is focused on maximizing DPS, you're going to want to maximize stacks, but it's not always going to be easy to do - that's the challenge of mastering the spec. The reason we lowered the stack size is we felt that having to build up to 6 made dropping stacks feel too punitive.

- Also for Arcane, Scorch deals 40% less damage for Arcane only, but its damage and mana are now increased by Arcane Charges. We agreed that previous iterations were too punitive for Fire and Frost. For Arcane, using Scorch as part of the base rotation won't be as powerful as it is today on live (which we feel violates the stack management I mentioned above), but it will increase with stacks.

- We are still iterating on Blazing Speed.

There ya go. Just thought it'd stand out a bit more.

But still, no changes to Fire? Nothing to fix our L90 talents? No Glyph changes? Urgh, this patch sucks

[Rogge]

You forget that You've to trade the actual meta-gem-bonus for it! (3 % increased critical effect!!!)

I don't think these new gems will replace metagems. My bet is you put in an additional socket, in which you can only place these gems, like sha-sockets.

Most likely http://ptr.wowdb.com/items/94904-crown-of-heaven this is it. The text is probably placeholder from being a copy of the 5.1 item that puts a socket in a weapon.

[Imnick]

Arcane reverting to 4 stacks is a change I can really get behind
Clearing and rebuilding fast will be a nice change after a tier of Scorch

[Shangalar]

The only thing that makes me sad about this is that we will be using a whole lot less Missiles. I like their visual and I like seeing my MSBT damage ticker show them as much as possible. The changes are of course amazing and are a step in the right direction not only for everyone here who was claiming that it was required, but also for Blizzard.

They tested their vision with 6 Charges and based on their analysis and player feedback decided it wasn't such a good change.

That being said, I'm sensing myself on the PTR as soon as this hits.

[Aquamonkey]

Arcane reverting to 4 stacks is a change I can really get behind
Clearing and rebuilding fast will be a nice change after a tier of Scorch

TBH, I liked having Scorch part of the standard rotation. It allowed for brief periods of movement without losing DPS (like repositioning around my RoP) without having to wait for Bomb.

[Elegiac]

The only thing that makes me sad about this is that we will be using a whole lot less Missiles. I like their visual and I like seeing my MSBT damage ticker show them as much as possible. The changes are of course amazing and are a step in the right direction not only for everyone here who was claiming that it was required, but also for Blizzard.

They tested their vision with 6 Charges and based on their analysis and player feedback decided it wasn't such a good change.

That being said, I'm sensing myself on the PTR as soon as this hits.

I agree. AM has always been one of my favourite spells; unfortunately, the graphics are rather dated and it is in sore need of a revamp. As is Arcane Blast.

[spaace]

What about Crown of Heaven ?
Second socket to our sha-touched weapons? new sha touched?


I can't see using less missiles. If anything, more(same?), because it's free and adds/refreshes.. Just weaving in more barrages... or just straight up evocating more.


They should just scrap arcane and fix fire.

[Shangalar]

Nah, as someone already said, it seems like a placeholder for the item that will add a socket to your helmet.

Also, as far as Arcane goes, I'm seeing again Int > Haste (breakpoint) > Mastery > Haste = Crit. And 2 Mastery won't be better than 1 Intellect. And the only reason to jump to further Haste breakpoints is when your gear naturally does it.

I can't prove it and I can't properly explain it right now, but I smell it.

[spaace]

Nah, as someone already said, it seems like a placeholder for the item that will add a socket to your helmet.

Also, as far as Arcane goes, I'm seeing again Int > Haste (breakpoint) > Mastery > Haste = Crit. And 2 Mastery won't be better than 1 Intellect. And the only reason to jump to further Haste breakpoints is when your gear naturally does it.

I can't prove it and I can't properly explain it right now, but I smell it.

Simcraft results for wow-reforge (for my gear, anyways)

template=for:mage-arcane,Int:4.73,SP:3.88,Crit:1.86,Haste:2.31,Mastery:2.25

[Shangalar]

That's for right now? Coz I'm talking about 5.2 after the next build when they make these substantial changes. We won't even know a proper rotation to fit into SimC for a while.

[Imnick]

I hope they boost Barrage cleave per stack too, rather than reducing its potential

[Polarthief]

What about Crown of Heaven ?
Second socket to our sha-touched weapons? new sha touched?


I can't see using less missiles. If anything, more(same?), because it's free and adds/refreshes.. Just weaving in more barrages... or just straight up evocating more.


They should just scrap arcane and fix fire.

It's either going to mean a second prismatic socket, or a new socket to our upgraded weapons perhaps.

I'm curious what's going to happen to our Loshans and Jin'yas.

---------- Post added 2013-01-23 at 07:50 PM ----------

I hope they boost Barrage cleave per stack too, rather than reducing its potential

2 per stack would be amazing.

Or make it cleave 3 off the bat and keep it at 3+N (N = stacks).

[DreamSpyre]

I'm on the fence with those Arcane Changes so far. It will depend on if they revert the mana cost changes to scorch and AB along with the Charges change. But it could make things interesting. If 4x AB - Barrage is still mana neutral with the RoP nerf then it will be a pretty nice dps increase and quality of life change.