Frost-Warden - Mage Healer Concept

[Maester]

THIS IS ONLY A CONCEPT FOR FUN. I DON'T EXPECT A FROST HEALING SPEC. TO EVER BE IMPLEMENTED INTO THE GAME.

Currently, Mage's can choose to play one of three specializations: Fire, Frost, or Arcane. All three of these specializations are DPS. The Mage is lacking a Healer or Tank specialization, putting it alongside a few other classes that are only able to play a DPS role.

I think it's a good idea to create a fourth specialization for the Mage: Frost-Warden. This is a healer specialization with a focus on frost-based healing spells. I've thought about this for quite some time and within this thread you will find my ideas on what this would be like.

I will continue to add to this thread as I come up with more ideas. Please feel free to make suggestions in the comments below.

Preface: Healing with Frost
I understand that healing with ice is a big "WTF?", however I think of it as sort of like the Shaman heal-with-water type. The shields of course make sense through Frost, and I think of the spells as kind of breaking as they hit the target and healing. I know, it's a weak idea, and way too similar to Shaman healing, but I liked the idea of something "out-there" and Frost healing seems cool to me. Remember this is just a concept for fun to kind of mess around and see how things could be if this were real.

I: Abilities

Mastery: Thick Frost
Increases the damage reduction of your Shield of Frost ability by 6%, and increases both its damage reduction and absorption by 3% per point of mastery.

Shield of Frost
Surrounds a friendly target in an ice shield, reducing all damage done to the target by 15% and absorbing up to 20,000 melee damage. Lasts 7 seconds. 15 second cooldown. Costs 20% of base mana. Instant cast.

Frost Heal
Heals a friendly target for 10,000. Costs 13% of base mana.

Frost Shock
Heals a friendly target for 14,000. Costs 40% of base mana. Instant cast.

Frost Beam
Heals the friendly target for 15,000 over 5 seconds. Costs 10% of base mana. Instant cast, channelled for up to 5 seconds.

Frostbolt
Shoot a bolt of frost at a friendly target, healing them instantly for 6,000, then 500 every second for 5 seconds. Also deals some Frost damage to a nearby enemy, freezing it in place for 3 seconds. Has a 12% chance to grant you the Fingers of Frost effect. 6 second cooldown. Costs 14% of base mana. 2 second cast.

Snow
Snow falls over the targeted area, healing up to 6 friendly targets in that area for 4% of their total health every 2 seconds. Has a 12% chance to grant you the Fingers of Frost effect. Lasts 6 seconds. Costs 25% of base mana. Instant cast.

Chain of Frost
Heal a friendly target for 9000. This heal will chain to that targets two nearest friendly targets and heal those targets for 4500. Has a 12% chance to grant you the Fingers of Frost effect. 3 second cooldown. Costs 18% of base mana. Instant cast.

Fingers of Frost [Passive]
Your Frostbolt, Snow, and Chain of Frost hits have a 12% chance of granting you the Fingers of Frost effect, causing your next Frost Heal or Frost Shock to restore 10% of your base mana and apply Shield of Frost to its target, whether or not it is on cooldown. Lasts 3 seconds.

Veins of Frost [Passive]
Every time your Frost Beam critically hits, you have a 6% chance of your next Chain of Frost to cost no mana. Chain of Frost must be cast right after Frost Beam.

II: Talents
Coming soon!

III: Stats
Coming soon!

Let me know what you think! I will be adding more and creating more sections very soon! Please keep in mind that the numbers for the abilities might seem ridiculous, I just kind of guessed at what kind of numbers would be balanced but they're more for giving a general feel for the kind of things each ability will do.

[Deleted]

Nope.avi

All threads asking for a 4th spec for any class should be deleted as soon as its created.

[Unrested]

Not only does this not make sense, it preforms just like a shaman. This needs a complete reform as well as a different idea. Frost does not heal people. Unless you're a frost creature. So it never will.

[Curanhadin]

I never want to hear anyting again about a mage healer its just dumb.

[vth99]

well the concept doesnt seem to be anywhere near acceptable. I think if you want to make a mage spec that isnt dps then it would be to tank and be working around merging with the frost elemental and making ice walls to block damage draining mana instead of health. and then make the mastery work around making healing spells restore mana to the mage

[Deleted]

Frost healing?! How can you heal with ice? Shamans already heal with "power of water" etc., and what's that thing about "mages lack Tank spec" you serious? Tanking?!!?!?!?!? Cloth-tanking ftw....

[Cairm]

Is it just a copy of every healing spell shaman have?

[Mystile]

Two questions:
why frost when arcane would seem to have a better healing capability? Only thing frost would possibly provide is ice barrier in a discipline / mistweaver healing style.
WHY DOES FROST SHOCK HAVE A CAST? Makes no sense >.> it's a shock, as in instant. Like Holy Shock, Frost Shock, Flame Shock, Earth Shock. All instant.

[Bluesftw]

Please stop with those "brilliant" spec ideas, if you want to play hybrid class, roll one. i've chosen pure dps class cause thats what i wanna do, dont like to be forced to tank or heal just casuse you have one talent tree for it.

[Imnick]

Mastery based around a single spell with a 45s cooldown isn't a very good idea, and Disc priests will be annoyed that you basically have a better version of their signature move.

And 30% mana restoration on a proc? Are you mad? Have you played a healer before?

[Mormolyce]

You can't just put "Frost" in front of a bunch of heal spells and call it a Mage healer...

Mage healers make no sense in the Warcraft universe. Just because you can cast spells doesn't mean it makes sense for you to be a healer.

[Potato Bus]

I would much rather that the devs spent time fixing our current specs by reiterating on their playstyles to create something new and unique, and yet still related to the specs' origins, than adding in an unnecessary 4th spec to fill a role most Mages don't want. If I want to heal, I have a Paladin for that.

Besides, look at all the trouble Shadow is going through in 5.2 because they have burst damage, healing, and a small amount of utility. Take that and compound it with the ridiculous(ly good) amount of CC/utility that Mages have and imagine how gutted we would be as a class by the second day of any patch to add a healing spec.

[scuac]

Wow, lots of angry people jumping on OP. He clearly stated this was just for fun.

Personally, if I had the power to create a second role for mages I would go for Frost tank. It could work as kind of a CC/avoidance tanking. Imagine a frost mage with two stances, regular as it is today or its tanking stance where the mage becomes encased in ice (think iceman in x-men).

[Imnick]

Wow, lots of angry people jumping on OP. He clearly stated this was just for fun.

Please feel free to make suggestions in the comments below.

If he's suggesting things that are clearly implausible or overpowered I am going to tell him, this is a conversation not a support echo chamber.

[scuac]

If he's suggesting things that are clearly implausible or overpowered I am going to tell him, this is a conversation not a support echo chamber.

THIS IS ONLY A CONCEPT FOR FUN. I DON'T EXPECT A FROST HEALING SPEC. TO EVER BE IMPLEMENTED INTO THE GAME.

Anyway, I wasn't talking about your post in particular. If you want me to be specific, posts 2,3,4,6,9 seem to be rude and overreacting.

[Evil Inside]

Why are people so adamant about turning pures into hybrids? I like the fact that my mage is a master of the arcane/fire/frost elements and that it can bring down mighty enemies with those elements. A mage healer doesnt make sense in any setting.

[Charge me Doctor]

Shield of Frost looks little out of whatever, because it reduces all damage and destroyed only by melee damage.

And all this "base mana" thing, isn't all healers have static mana and their heals use % of this mana?

And beam-spell should spend mana like mistweavers one, no one likes to spend tonn of mana to get your 5-second channeled spell interrupted.

How much FoF stacks mage can have then? With Snow spell (I think it should stack at least with something, raw 4% health is too strong IMO) they will stack really fast, you will want to spend them (i.e. cast heals on many targets), not waste them on single target healing.

I would like to see something like weapon frost-enhancing for DD, frost-shield for Tanks, and mana-restore for Healers (but there we can hit the same stone shadow priests hit)

[Obelisk Kai]

Look, if they had their time over again I beleive we wouldn't have had pures and Mages would have a healing spec. Saying there is no spot for it in the lore is irrelevant, I think we all know that if Blizzard believes a mechanical change is good for the game they can and will create the lore to back it up (Horde Paladins, Alliance Shamans)

Now Ghostcrawler has stated that from time to time they do talk about giving the pures new roles, but he also notes the counterpoint that some people roll pures to get away from having to heal or tank and giving them the option to heal would also open them up to the pressure to use it in raiding situations.

So the possibility is there, and for a time I thought a fourth spec (after Druids got it) might be a way of giving everyone a gameplay hook in the next expansion but the more I think about it the less comfortable I become with it.

Finally, your idea is sadly uncreative. You yourself noted that it is way to similar to how Shamans heal, and they have the monopoly on the healing powers of elemental water. IF we had to have a healing spec, I believe most people here would agree it would be better to base it on our ability to manipulate time. Rather than healing damage, we would be trying to undo it ever occuring (would still be a heal of course).

[Elegiac]

So the possibility is there, and for a time I thought a fourth spec (after Druids got it) might be a way of giving everyone a gameplay hook in the next expansion but the more I think about it the less comfortable I become with it.

Such thoughts ignore the actual reason why the Guardian spec was introduced. Guardian wasn't a 'new' spec, they simply split up Feral Combat into its tanking and damage dealing components since as they learned with Death Knights, it is incredibly difficult to balance the 'two specs in one', especially when they have two different roles.

The only other spec this -might- have been arguably viable for is Holy. But since Shockadins were never anything more than a FOTM curiosity, I doubt it.

[Viradiance]

As an alternative to an idea, arcane mending.

Cauterizing wounds shut with fire, rewinding time to heal damage (like alter time) and using frost shields as a preventative measure (think disc bubbles)