Arcane mage viability in arena.

[Deleted]

I'm currently watching Watchmeblink playing as arcane with RZN(rogues) and Holyplax(disc).
You should most definitely check it out, if you want to see how you can make arcane works, arcane is not as bad as it seems.

cheers

[NPI]

Can you link, where can we see him?

[Dreadii]

Ididn`t think watching an arcane mage in arena would be very entertaining, but it is!

[Deleted]

Can you link, where can we see him?

Yes you can catch him on twitch
http://www.twitch.tv/watchmeblink1

---------- Post added 2013-04-09 at 04:22 PM ----------

Ididn`t think watching an arcane mage in arena would be very entertaining, but it is!

I was surprised by that too, i was still under the impression that the immobility of arcane made the spec impossible to play in arena, but it can work.

Arcane explosion refreshing stacks is definitely really important in order to set up burst. One weak point though is that getting cc'ed can make you lose your stack easily.

[Shangalar]

It was never an issue with immobility, it's an issue with the dps ramp up time. Spells are weak until you get to 3-4 Charges and this is very hard to pull off with so much CC going around. Don't have the time to check the stream right now, but I'll keep it in mind for later. The good side now is that all three mage specs have exactly the same amount of defenses with the addition of Pet Freeze (super), Dragon's Breath or the other one (slightly less super) and Slow (a lot less super).

[Deleted]

It was never an issue with immobility, it's an issue with the dps ramp up time. Spells are weak until you get to 3-4 Charges and this is very hard to pull off with so much CC going around. Don't have the time to check the stream right now, but I'll keep it in mind for later. The good side now is that all three mage specs have exactly the same amount of defenses with the addition of Pet Freeze (super), Dragon's Breath or the other one (slightly less super) and Slow (a lot less super).

After watching the stream for a good amount of time, this is what i gather too, compared to frost, arcane is still weaker mainly because of this, once you get to 4 charges you can still get cc and lose your charges, that being said I'm just happy to see that arcane is not total garbage.

Also i cannot say that Watchmeblink will always play arcane on his streamn, he's doing it today, but just might go back to frost very fast, maybe you will be able to see some vods on twitch.

[Shangalar]

Just a note, this is not a new thing, it's been a problem since I started playing in Wrath. Arcane is insane in normal battlegrounds, I could even see it being used in Rated Battlegrounds, but in Arena the top it can do is in 5v5 if everyone is blind and ignores the Arcane Mage or if you have two healers to keep you standing and dispel you.

[Soulstrike]

i dont understand why they got rid of polymorph stun and imp blink for arcane (the shield knockback was nice too)

[Deleted]

Arcane was SICK for Battlegrounds in Cataclysm. Throughout the whole patch. My "Wrecking Ball" achievement was done by graveyard camping ppl at Warsong Gulch with arcane lol. With Impact you could stun people, there was the shield knockback, the improved blink, the faster AB casts and Focus Magic + POM were rocking. Today it's all about charges - slow build up and big risk of being CCed, stunned etc so you can easily loose your charges. I wouldn't recommend playing arcane in PVP overall since it feels much less mobile and ramping up than it used to in cata.