Arcane Mage Rework in BfA

[Deleted]

From the spell changes leaked in the alphabuild is pretty clear blizzard has something in mind about arcane.
The most notable change is the one to Arcane Missles wich are no longer proc based and mana free and seem to be even cut out of the arcane charge system, they are also already changing some talents here and there and adding a baseline proc based clearcasting ability.
So, What do you mages think about this?

P.s. I'm quite new to this forum so forgive me if I didn't add links to the spells, I would be glad if someone would teach me how to do that for the future

[rogoth]

i'm genuinely fearful for the mage class as a whole with the changes so far, the devs are leaving several problem things alone and not addressing some major underlying issues.

[Wardonis]

i'm happy missiles is no longer a proc. its such a cool spell, or at least it was with the old animation. Anyone else notice it's nearly the only spell in that entire document that got a damage buff instead of a nerf. I really hope we can use it rotationally now. I also Hope they did something about us using arcane explosion in melee range.

[davesignal]

One of the new talents lets you use Arcane Missiles rotationally, but otherwise I think you'll only use it when you get a Clearcasting proc (for anyone who didn't see: Clearcasting is back, 2.5% chance per 1% of your mana you spend to proc it, it makes Arcane Missiles free) or you need to burn mana even harder than spamming AB4.

I'm super excited, the changes and talents look cool.

[Champagne Supernova]

Hopefully we'll get some interesting and useful talents this time around, I'd like to use Ray of Frost more often but was always using lonely winter.

As for Arcane, seems like interesting changes, though we'll see how it will turn out.

[Deleted]

Hopefully we'll get some interesting and useful talents this time around

I always hope they give us some of our utility back. Kiting as fire felt a lot better when we still had decent slows, e.g. Cone of Cold. And in general, I'd appreciate more (situational) buttons to press. These days we have no options in any given situation.

[Wardonis]

One of the new talents lets you use Arcane Missiles rotationally, but otherwise I think you'll only use it when you get a Clearcasting proc (for anyone who didn't see: Clearcasting is back, 2.5% chance per 1% of your mana you spend to proc it, it makes Arcane Missiles free) or you need to burn mana even harder than spamming AB4.

I'm super excited, the changes and talents look cool.

If you consider slipstream the talent that allows you to cast while moving for missiles and evo, being able to spam missiles in burn phase is a HUGE mobility boost, especially when you consider a chrono boost ABarr followed by a charged up, and add to that missiles could proc clear casting off itself. Now consider rule of three in the conserve phase. ABx3>AM>AB>NT>Abarr standard plus any clearcasting procs. Temporal flux is vague but it looks like we could use it for extended burn phases. I really like the direction arcane is headed. I just miss the old animations

[Dalheim]

i'm happy missiles is no longer a proc. its such a cool spell, or at least it was with the old animation. Anyone else notice it's nearly the only spell in that entire document that got a damage buff instead of a nerf. I really hope we can use it rotationally now. I also Hope they did something about us using arcane explosion in melee range.

One thing they could maybe do with Arcane Explosion is that you throw some ''Arcane Ball'' at the target location that then explodes for 1-3 times? It'll be like Arcane Explosion, just that you throw something that explodes instead?

[davesignal]

I think they're going to keep Arcane's AOE kind of janky with Arcane Explosion, because I think they're pushing Arcane into a ST focused, burst-heavy niche with these changes. Blizzard had that whole big effortpost about how they want specs to have niches again, and I imagine for mages that will work out like this:

Arcane: Bursty single target
Frost: Sustained ST/light cleave
Fire: Mass AOE

That would seem like it would play into the natural inclinations of each spec. Arcane being about bursty AOE feels less thematic than just being a fire hose of pure arcane power that you aim at one specific dude, Fire is obviously inclined to turn a big pile of enemies into a huge bonfire, and Frost fits naturally into the sustained cleave role. I wouldn't be surprised if Splitting Ice becomes baseline.

[Wardonis]

One thing they could maybe do with Arcane Explosion is that you throw some ''Arcane Ball'' at the target location that then explodes for 1-3 times? It'll be like Arcane Explosion, just that you throw something that explodes instead?

or an arcane orb...

[Nefarious Tea]

It also seems like Evocation's functionality is changing. There's a talent which causes you to get Evocation's effect a second time five seconds after it ends. It would make no sense for this to happen in the current incarnation of Evocation, because a) you can't burn your whole mana pool in five seconds, and b) even if you COULD, that talent would force you to suddenly start channeling.

- - - Updated - - -

or an arcane orb...

If it exploded on impact like in D3 where they stole it from, that would actually be kind of cool. There'd be some strategy to the direction in which your throw it for maximum damage.

[Tyze]

If they will steal more stuff from d3 then give us Archon. A massive cooldown instead of overpowered

[davesignal]

It also seems like Evocation's functionality is changing. There's a talent which causes you to get Evocation's effect a second time five seconds after it ends. It would make no sense for this to happen in the current incarnation of Evocation, because a) you can't burn your whole mana pool in five seconds, and b) even if you COULD, that talent would force you to suddenly start channeling.

The talent merely says you gain the effect five seconds later. It's entirely possible that you could simply gain the Evocation buff and start regenerating mana without having to actually channel the spell. The Resto Shaman artifact has a similar ability, where it echos your artifact ability several seconds later without requiring you to cast it.

And as for whether or not you could spend that much mana.. well, you could use Presence of Mind and cast two AB4s, burning off 22% of your mana quickly, then cast Arcane Missiles without Clearcasting to burn off another 18%. That would burn 40% of your mana in about five seconds, at which point you would get the Temporal Flux Evocation.

If you gain the Evocation effect without having to channel it, and can continue casting other spells, then you could just continue to spam Arcane Missiles until the Temporal Flux Evocation ends and you'd likely still end up with ~80% mana.

[D3athsting]

I just hope rop will burn in hell for all mage specs once and for all

[The Archmage]

I strongly align myself with those that want RoP to be finally left out of the game. We suffered with it long enough and even though the current iteration is miles better then previous ones, i still despise it, as the majority of us mages do.

Arcane changes look interesting, expecially the range and the massive damage (compared to adjusted numbers from all other abilities it is even too impressive to be honest) on arcane missiles will net us some pretty interesting PvP shenanigans.

I think for the spec to become more popular they will need to make it less punitive, otherwise it will be skipped by the majority of players, as it has been more often then not.

More then anything, however, i would like for a change in the AoE department. Arcane Explosion is as old as the game, and the improved visuals do not make up for a single spamming button that works at melee ranged which, as i have been saying since forever not, it is counterintuitive for a ranged caster and also pretty offputting in terms of the general "feel" of the class (not very magey to be alongside ironclad dudes swinging massively overinflated weapons at their enemies anytime we need to AoE). There are so many things we could do instead.

[davesignal]

I think with Mages having three DPS specs, and two of them being-- let's face it here-- pretty uncomplicated, there's room in the design space for Arcane to be a little punitive. Much like how Holy being so straightforward gives the developers the option to make Discipline what it is, I think it's alright if Arcane is on the lower end of popularity due to it requiring more planning and forethought than the other two mage specs.

Maybe it doesn't need to be quite so precise, but it'd be shame if they dumbed it down too much. The risk of failure is what makes it interesting.

[Well]

I love Rune of Power, I never understood the hate against it after they reworked it majorly the first time, BUT...

it should be baseline & Arcane only. It has no spot in Frost or Fire.

[Deleted]

I think with Mages having three DPS specs, and two of them being-- let's face it here-- pretty uncomplicated, there's room in the design space for Arcane to be a little punitive. Much like how Holy being so straightforward gives the developers the option to make Discipline what it is, I think it's alright if Arcane is on the lower end of popularity due to it requiring more planning and forethought than the other two mage specs.

Maybe it doesn't need to be quite so precise, but it'd be shame if they dumbed it down too much. The risk of failure is what makes it interesting.

Absolutely. Although, could you please explain what's so punitive about arcane? I haven't seen much of it this expansion myself.

I love Rune of Power, I never understood the hate against it after they reworked it majorly the first time, BUT...
it should be baseline & Arcane only. It has no spot in Frost or Fire.

While they're hypothetically at it, maybe rethink Incanter's Flow as well. While you must at least put some thought into RoP, IF requires no effort at all.
If instead it was a more essential part of our rotation... but not, it's just plastered on top of our rotations, nice to have but too insignificant and jarring to be regarded in our decision-making.

[klaps_05]

Ray of frost needs to be baseline spell is so awesome

[davesignal]

Absolutely. Although, could you please explain what's so punitive about arcane? I haven't seen much of it this expansion myself.

It punishes poor play in a very noticeable way, by running you out of mana. Most specs do not provide such direct feedback if you screw up your rotation-- screwing up a Frostbolt/Flurry/Ice Lance combo as a Frost Mage is bad, but in a way that's much more subtle. When you fuck up with most DPS specs, you notice it afterwards when you're looking at your logs or Skada.

When you fuck up with Arcane.. you know. Mostly because you run out of mana before you're supposed to, and everything goes to hell.

The only spec that has a more obvious failure state than Arcane is Shadow using Surrender to Madness, because it just fuckin' kills you. That's a bit too harsh.