[Frost] Too much to handle

[Polarthief]

I keep getting told that Frost is so easy. Yeah, not so much for me.

I've got to keep track of a fluctuating CD on Frost Bomb (anywhere from 4s to 8s), Frozen Orb (1m), Invocation (40s), Pet Freeze (24s), and my proccs, BF/FoF, and keep up my 15s 3stack of Frostbolt.

I simply can't function when I'm trying to keep track of everything and I just fall apart and I'm sick of people telling me that it's so simple and easy. It's multitasking to the utmost extreme for me and I can barely pay attention to raid mechanics when I have all this stupid shit to track.

[Promark]

So use an addon to help keep track of the CDs. I use TellMeWhen for Invocation and the pet Freeze. I hear WeakAuras works well for some.

[voltaa]

I recomend you use ForteXorcist, it gives a bar that counts down all of your cooldowns and makes them flash in the middle of your screen as they come off CD

[jtmzac]

Use omni-cc and use nether tempest instead of frost bomb. Nether tempest might seem harder at first but it's actually easier because you have a bit of freedom in how you clip it plus it's an instant cast which fits the rotation a bit better and gives you even more mobility.

I have alter time, mirror images and icy veins all right next to each other on my bars so I only have to look in one spot to see all my cd's. I also use an addon called raven to track my invocation buff right next to my actions bars.

[Imnick]

I can't say I found it particularly difficult, no.
That said I've been using PowerAuras for years so I set those up even before I started playing the spec, so cooldown management was never an issue.

[Rinoa]

Personally I don't find it to be difficult at all. Perhaps you should consider the addons the other poster mentioned, they might help.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

Practice, practice, practice. It wont be easy until you learn how to play it, the people saying it is easy are most likely experienced at playing frost. It may be harder for you simply because you learn at a different pace. The more you practice and learn the faster and better you will perform, in addition if you practice multiple classes and specs you will likely improve your overall skill due to different styles of play being necessary. The more you learn the better your brain will perform. Figure out a method that works for you then use it or simply teach yourself how to compensate for certain things through practice.

[Polarthief]

Use omni-cc and use nether tempest instead of frost bomb. Nether tempest might seem harder at first but it's actually easier because you have a bit of freedom in how you clip it plus it's an instant cast which fits the rotation a bit better and gives you even more mobility.

I have alter time, mirror images and icy veins all right next to each other on my bars so I only have to look in one spot to see all my cd's. I also use an addon called raven to track my invocation buff right next to my actions bars.

It's actually not at all for me. I love NT.

That being said, I dropped FB and went NT and although everyone claims it to be lower DPS (which it is) it just cleared up like 95% of my issues. I don't know what I have against Frost Bomb, but with that ONE extra thing taken out, it was just a lot easier.

---------- Post added 2012-12-03 at 11:24 PM ----------

Practice, practice, practice. It wont be easy until you learn how to play it, the people saying it is easy are most likely experienced at playing frost. It may be harder for you simply because you learn at a different pace. The more you practice and learn the faster and better you will perform, in addition if you practice multiple classes and specs you will likely improve your overall skill due to different styles of play being necessary. The more you learn the better your brain will perform. Figure out a method that works for you then use it or simply teach yourself how to compensate for certain things through practice.

I've played it start, middle, and end, though mixed in with Fire.

I really think my body just has a personal vendetta against Frost Bomb as I do quite poor with it.

[jtmzac]

It's actually not at all for me. I love NT.

That being said, I dropped FB and went NT and although everyone claims it to be lower DPS (which it is) it just cleared up like 95% of my issues. I don't know what I have against Frost Bomb, but with that ONE extra thing taken out, it was just a lot easier.

Quite the opposite actually. For frost NT>FB except in rare circumstances (I only use frost bomb on Wind Lord and only because I have the right trinkets). The trinket priority also changes depending on what you use.

FB is usually used for dungeons more than raiding. I started with FB then moved to NT when I started doing LFR and now I can quite comfortably use either on any fight. It just takes some practice.

People focus way too much on patchwerk sims. I sim my own gear using both patchwerk and helter skelter and you get much more realistic numbers.

[Jaylol]

Press buttons when they light up, use Frozen Orb and pet nova on CD, use a different dot that frost bomb, especially if you have LotC. I actually find it easier than fire. It takes awhile to get used to, but after you get the timings down, it's really quite simple.

[Zavri]

I keep getting told that Frost is so easy. Yeah, not so much for me.

I've got to keep track of a fluctuating CD on Frost Bomb (anywhere from 4s to 8s), Frozen Orb (1m), Invocation (40s), Pet Freeze (24s), and my proccs, BF/FoF, and keep up my 15s 3stack of Frostbolt.

I simply can't function when I'm trying to keep track of everything and I just fall apart and I'm sick of people telling me that it's so simple and easy. It's multitasking to the utmost extreme for me and I can barely pay attention to raid mechanics when I have all this stupid shit to track.

If you think frost is too much to handle as a dps spec you won't like arcane either.

TBH Fire was extremely easy to perform well with vs many other classes. Melee dps usually have alot of things to keep track of while doing mechanics and staying behind the boss for optimal dps. You should just queue up for LFR and practice the spec until it is like second nature.

[jtmzac]

If you think frost is too much to handle as a dps spec you won't like arcane either.

TBH Fire was extremely easy to perform well with vs many other classes. Melee dps usually have alot of things to keep track of while doing mechanics and staying behind the boss for optimal dps. You should just queue up for LFR and practice the spec until it is like second nature.

Melee don't have cast times to stop and think and they have to move all the time while using just as many moves.

I would say arcane is easily the hardest of the mage specs atm and frost/fire are both pretty easy.

[khatsoo]

There's two 'relative' factors ("pros"/noobs and 'it's easy/it's difficult')

- Noob/It's easy - Probable not doing your best
- Noob/It's difficult - Practice or fail
- "Pro"/It's easy - Yes, it is like everything else. I got my addons/senses or I can take care of myself. Nothing spectacular.
- "Pro"/It's difficult - It seems you're there. Improve by practice or get better addons/aware of your surroundings.

[Deleted]

For me, Frost isn't an easy spec to play correctly.
There's a lot of button to push (FB, IL, FFB, orb, bomb, L90 talents, PoM, IV & AT), cooldown, debuff and proc to tract, a pet to manage.
Talents AND Glyph need to be change in a fight to fight basis (because IV is imperative after the haste cap).

The choice of the bomb depend on fight and on personal choice but 3 bomb are globally equal in term of DPS on a single target.

In my wishlist, I have 2 or 3 thinks that need change:

• Frostbolt debuff can be remove as it isn't a issue with 5.1 pvp nerf, or make FFB apply the debuff too.
• A minor glyph to make Freeze centre around the target, not another spell.
• A minor glyph to change the water elemental appearance
• a mix between IV and Glyphed IV to get ride of the glyph.

[mnzahra]

I use Tellmewhen. I have Living Bomb on target with a timer, Fire blast cd timer, Frozen orb CD Timer, Icy Veins CD timer, Alter time CD Timer, Trinket CD Timer, Pet Freeze CD timer, Invocation buff timer and Ice Lance / FFB procs. I struggled at first but once I set up Tellmewhen, an hour on the dummy and the spec became really easy. Fun to play as well. High burst and AoE. Decent single target.

[jtmzac]

I use Tellmewhen. I have Living Bomb on target with a timer, Fire blast cd timer, Frozen orb CD Timer, Icy Veins CD timer, Alter time CD Timer, Trinket CD Timer, Pet Freeze CD timer, Invocation buff timer and Ice Lance / FFB procs. I struggled at first but once I set up Tellmewhen, an hour on the dummy and the spec became really easy. Fun to play as well. High burst and AoE. Decent single target.

I kind of like the frostbolt debuff. It adds something to an otherwise fairly bland spec.

As for glyphs I figured if they made the water elemental glyph default and gave us water jet it would be a massive improvement. I've had to start using the icy veins glyph recently and had to remove my water elemental glyph accordingly and its really annoying not having it. There's still possible uses for not using the icy veins glyph so I think it should stay how it is now.

[mnzahra]

I don't like the Icy Veins glyph. I just use Evocation, Fire Blast and Ice Lance glyph.

[Deleted]

I think it's worth mentioning that if you dislike a spec and struggle with it, 9 times out of 10 you will perform better with a spec you are comfortable with (In this case - Fire I'd guess?) until you get used to it. To be honest, keep practicing with frost in LFR and Heroics, and play what spec you are better at in raids for now.

While frost may sim higher or technically be a better spec after the recent nerfs, player input plays a much bigger role than simulated numbers and theorycrafting.

[reflection]

As crazyjoe said: The most important thing about a spec is to get used to it. If you play a spec for a long time you now exactly when to push which button. What comes on top is that you have to get used to the bosses again after changing the spec (when to pull which cooldown and so on).

A guildmate recommended me WeakAuras to keep track of stuff and I simply love it. You have to invest some time, then you can visualize really everything. Tracking spell CDs and showing them when they are available. Tracking your Trinkets procs + cooldowns. You can even teach the addon to show something different when swapping talents (e.g. I want to have a different tracking for Frostbomb, here I want to see the spell cooldown, then the tracking for Living Bomb or Nether Tempest, here I want to see the duration on the target).

I really love this AddOn and I would really really really recommend it to everyone You can even exchange common things. There's another thread here in the mage forum I wanted to have sticky see http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...age-Weak-Auras

[spaace]

Maybe mage isn't the class for you... cuz frost is easier then any other spec because you're not fishing procs...

fof/bf procs, use it. frost orb not on cd, use it. frostbolt filler.. how is that hard?

You know your pet freeze isn't on your mage gcd right?