[5.2] Relative DPS between specs and when to switch

[Deleted]

I've spend days and days on Frost, but I completely suck at it in PvE. I'm forced to not raid until I get higher gear, and of course higher gear isn't going to come without raiding.

So for me ... I'm playing Arcane to do my dailies, and old content ... and waiting for May 20th, hoping something gets done for Arcane before my sub runs out.

Frost is pretty easy, If I may ask, what are you main problems when you're playing frost in PVE ? Maybe we can help.

[Malfecto]

I was about to say, have you tried buddying up with another mage on your realm that uses frost proficiently? I know the mages in the raiding guilds on my realm often share strats, tips and spec help.

[schwarzkopf]

Frost is pretty easy, If I may ask, what are you main problems when you're playing frost in PVE ? Maybe we can help.

The abysmally low dps figures, and no understanding of why. Not expecting perfection here, but I'm doing around 20% more damage in Arcane, and that's a haste heavy arcane.

---------- Post added 2013-03-19 at 02:03 PM ----------

I was about to say, have you tried buddying up with another mage on your realm that uses frost proficiently? I know the mages in the raiding guilds on my realm often share strats, tips and spec help.

Pretty much on my own with this... I've had advice, but I don't know why the advice isn't working. I mean, theoretically I should be doing better dps just following the lit up buttons - but I'm not.

[Rethys]

If it's a matter of keeping abilities on cooldown, keeping buffs up, or keeping your bomb up 100% of the time I found weakauras to be very beneficial. Once I installed that and tailored it to my needs my enjoyment of the class, spec, and game went up *considerably*. It shows my CD on IV, AT, FO, Mirrors, NT duration on my target, and Inovc/IW uptime. It's all smack dab in the middle of my screen so there's no missing it. If you want to really dumb it down you can add sounds to the triggers.

I'm at work now but if you like I can post my aura strings for you to copy over.

Also, use ExtraCD addon which tracks all your internals. It's a great way for you to plan out alter time (especially on initial pull.) I don't use alter time until I have all buffs procced and ready to go, not based on FoF/BF procs.

This site is a great resource... as are your fellow mages. Ask the questions and you will get answers.

[Deleted]

The abysmally low dps figures, and no understanding of why. Not expecting perfection here, but I'm doing around 20% more damage in Arcane, and that's a haste heavy arcane.

So why are you not sticking to arcane in raids? I simply refuse to throw snowballs in PvE, and my gear falls short of the Fire requirements. And it is actually viable! I don't have logs, but when I compare my actual dps to WoL I usually find myself within the top 50-100.

I do feel you when you say you are getting benched because of insufficient gear, I have exactly the same issue. Raid leader says that he can only bring the best people. Fact however is that I am sitting within 10k of warlocks who have 10 Ilvls on me (I'm 494) and leaving all the others behind me, including a fire mage with Ilvl 504. Ignorant raid leaders are the worst.

[Argussonn]

According to recent WoL rankings arcane is best mage spec in normal, and top 3 dps in heroic, but only for 25 mans - when you can ignore most of boss's mechanics and stand in the friggin' RoP.
In 10 mans (both normal and heroic) arcane is dead.

[Saegno]

According to recent WoL rankings arcane is best mage spec in normal, and top 3 dps in heroic, but only for 25 mans - when you can ignore most of boss's mechanics and stand in the friggin' RoP.
In 10 mans (both normal and heroic) arcane is dead.

Not sure where you found this but I just checked and the breakdown for specs is looking like fire > frost just shortly behind > arcane for 25m normal.

[Argussonn]

I guess you were checking top 100 parses, which is obviously better for fire (fights with very good rng). Try all parses instead.

[Saegno]

I guess you were checking top 100 parses, which is obviously better for fire (fights with very good rng). Try all parses instead.

I was comparing them on per spec basis, top 100 per spec per fight and it looked like the order I listed for every fight.
Also was only doing US+EU since the asian realms have an ilvl imbalance.

[Argussonn]

I was comparing them on per spec basis, top 100 per spec per fight and it looked like the order I listed for every fight.
Also was only doing US+EU since the asian realms have an ilvl imbalance.

That's exactly what i said.
You get somethnig like this: fire 138k, frost 130k, arcane 129,9k
Once all parses are taken into account it looks like this: arcane 111k, frost 109k, fire 107k

[Saegno]

That's exactly what i said.
You get somethnig like this: fire 138k, frost 130k, arcane 129,9k
Once all parses are taken into account it looks like this: arcane 111k, frost 109k, fire 107k

How are you finding all parses? I only show top 150 and no option of averaging out them aside from doing the math myself.
I'm curious to see how you got the numbers you did.

[Argussonn]

raidbots does the math for you

Link below
http://raidbots.com/dpsbot/Overall_D...00000000000000

[Rethys]

According to recent WoL rankings arcane is best mage spec in normal, and top 3 dps in heroic, but only for 25 mans - when you can ignore most of boss's mechanics and stand in the friggin' RoP.
In 10 mans (both normal and heroic) arcane is dead.

Hahah, really? Since when did 25 mans ignore most of boss' mechanics?

[Malfecto]

I think he means, on some fights, it is possible for some dps to be doing a utility role with sufficient dps that a portion of the remaining dps can tunnel. Not that 25 man can simply ignore mechanics.

[Argussonn]

Hahah, really? Since when did 25 mans ignore most of boss' mechanics?

It was a mental shortcut.
What I meant was that in 25 mans you can have other people dealing with mechanics, while 1-2 other (like a mage) can stand still and nuke all the time.
In 10 mans everyone has to deal with it.

[Akraen]

raidbots does the math for you

Link below
http://raidbots.com/dpsbot/Overall_D...00000000000000

No

Raidbots includes Asian parses, it does not filter them out even though it is an option to do so on WoL.

Raidbots is near as useless right now.

[Peake]

I'm at work now but if you like I can post my aura strings for you to copy over.

I would be greatly interested in the strings. Wanting to build up my Frost knowledge again, after a very short stint early in 5.1 - and a short cut would be great! Mtrl for a separate thread for the entire community, or just a PM?

This site is a great resource... as are your fellow mages. Ask the questions and you will get answers.

It IS a very nice resource, especially with you guys/gals spending your precious time sharing for our eager consumptions!

[Bemlikanz]

Im with 29% crit with molten armor and dalaran brilliance active.
It is OK to role fire?

[Deleted]

Im with 29% crit with molten armor and dalaran brilliance active.
It is OK to role fire?

Prolly not.

[Bopcommander]

Im with 29% crit with molten armor and dalaran brilliance active.
It is OK to role fire?

I finally rolled fire again last night, and I have just under 39% crit fully raid buffed, and I'm still getting 6 and 7 fireballs in a row, if not more, without a Heating Up proc. I love fire, but it's so RNG, its frustrating. I may switch back to frost if tonight isn't much better. Frost is heavily RNG, but it feels more stable.

Side note... WTB Lei Shen's Trinket.