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  1. #1
    Deleted

    Best Race for mage on Alliance ? WoD and now.

    I do PvE, to WoD what is the best? And now?
    I've seen plenty of choice among many of the top mages, although most are humans. Also seeing the new changes in the racial, mages will be the best option with 3% in secondary Stats? Worgen with 1% crit ?


    I want to create the mage this week and I want to choose well

  2. #2
    Human is a solid bet since the new racial will allow you to allocate secondary stats as you see fit. It means you'll always be able to get the most beneficial secondary stat for whichever spec you're running with. The reputation bonus will also be nice for the inevitable WOD rep grinds. EMFH has some very nice uses in raids and can boost your DPS through the removal of certain mechanics, although it's currently up in the air to whether or not it will survive WOD's balance passes so I would look on this as a nice bonus rather than a reason to definitely go human.

    Panda double food racial is good on paper, but you lose it if you die and receive a battle rez which means it's never as good as it appears. It also isn't practical for things like PVP.

    Dwarf is a very strong defensive pick for the future if Stoneform remains in its current proposed form, but sadly I think it will end up getting nerfed. The crit damage racial won't be bad bad either.

    Worgen is your current best pick for Fire and will likely remain so for WOD, since it seems extremely likely Fire will continue to be crit based.

    Personally, if I was rolling a new mage today, I'd go human for flexibility. It's above average in all fields.

    Keep in mind you're talking about very, very small performance differences here, though!
    Last edited by Drutt; 2014-05-23 at 05:41 PM.

  3. #3
    Deleted
    Gnome cuz it looks best.

  4. #4
    Probably Human because it's incredibly flexible and I feel like with 5 major secondaries, we might have a hybrid build of X and Y being best rather than just X > Y > Z etc. Frost for instance will have Multistrike, Haste, and Mastery scaling with one another (More Multistrike = More Icicles = Mastery is better, and if Mastery is better, Multistrike and Haste get better because Haste = more spells and more spells = more multistrikes/icicles)

    Dwarf will most likely be best for Fire because 2% Crit damage is pretty good.
    Still wondering why I play this game.
    I'm a Rogue and I also made a spreadsheet for the Order Hall that is updated for BfA.

  5. #5
    Wait, we are going based on looks right? Those Nelf females in WOD...WITH FANGS, hawt damn.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by supervixen View Post
    Wait, we are going based on looks right? Those Nelf females in WOD...WITH FANGS, hawt damn.
    Pretty sure they meant purely for stats. Night Elves also don't make the best Mages aethestically, imo.







    (Akraen, don't hate me >.>)
    Still wondering why I play this game.
    I'm a Rogue and I also made a spreadsheet for the Order Hall that is updated for BfA.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Polarthief View Post
    Pretty sure they meant purely for stats. Night Elves also don't make the best Mages aethestically, imo.







    I was kidding

    I just posted mine in her Xmog under that thread, I think she looks bad ass. I also like the preview model of the new Nelf Females...to each their own! MUAH.

  8. #8
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Polarthief View Post
    Probably Human because it's incredibly flexible and I feel like with 5 major secondaries, we might have a hybrid build of X and Y being best rather than just X > Y > Z etc. Frost for instance will have Multistrike, Haste, and Mastery scaling with one another (More Multistrike = More Icicles = Mastery is better, and if Mastery is better, Multistrike and Haste get better because Haste = more spells and more spells = more multistrikes/icicles)

    Dwarf will most likely be best for Fire because 2% Crit damage is pretty good.
    Good explanation, I think I will choose the human then. Now that you talk about the look, girl clearly :P

  9. #9
    First off, here's the source of the new perks: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/11913971864

    Now a breakdown of each one:

    Human: Human is going to be the best balance (not 'balanced') overall because of how incredibly flexible they will be. Every Man means you got your trinket for PvP (also helps in a LOT of PvE situations!) and two secondary stats that you can pick so you can always adapt to whatever your spec is or if the meta's top DPS build changes. You also get Diplomacy which means those long grinds take 10% less time.

    Dwarf: Dwarves are getting some insane love in both PvP and PvE going into WoD. 2% Crit Damage is an insane boost for a racial and going to be very popular for any spec that revolves around Crit (Fire Mages especially). Stoneform is also getting such an insane boost, allowing you to remove any curable debuff or bleed (but won't remove full CCs), on top of still giving you 10% damage reduction. It's like a mini-Cloak of Shadows.

    Gnome: Gnome is definitely getting a buff, but not too huge for Mages. While still keeping their 5% Mana buff (and now also buffs all other resources like Rage and Energy), they also get 1% Haste and their Escape Artist cooldown reduced to 60s, down from 90s. EA isn't that great for raiding, but it has its uses. Unless you really enjoy being so short that your armor barely shows, Gnome won't be too great unless you're Arcane, specifically (since the extra mana means your Mastery gets a nice buff).

    Night Elf: Definitely an interesting one, Night Elves. They're getting two bonuses coming to WoD: The firts is 2% movement speed, and while small, it will stack with everything else, which is never a bad thing. On top of that, during the day, they get 1% Crit, and at night, 1% Haste. They're a bit versatile, but unless you're raiding at incredibly irregular times, expect to always have the Haste going into raiding. Not too bad, but not close to Humans and Dwarves.

    Draenei: Losing their 1% Hit racial, Draenei are now getting a main-stat bonus (Intellect) instead of secondary, but most likely at a reduced rate. Not sure how much it will give, but it should be nice! Also, Gift of the Naaru heals for 20% over 5s instead of 15s, so it will be a more noticeable heal. I'd place them roughly in the middle, above Gnomes and NElves.

    Worgen: Unchanged. 1% Crit and the sprint. Still really good for Fire and just above NElves (Sprint > 2% Passive for raiding)


    Now for the Hordie Mages!

    Orc: Almost unchanged. Hardiness got a 5% nerf (but stuns with durations on DPS aren't too prevalent in raiding, so this is irrelevant for PvE), and they no longer have a bonus when using an Axe (irrelevant for Mages). Still have the Spellpower active though.

    Undead: Mostly unchanged. WotA got a 1 minute nerf. Still using the passive Touch of the Grave that occasionally procs a lifesteal. Still very meh.

    Tauren: Can't be Mages, so irrelevant for this thread. If anyone's curios though, they too get the 2% Crit damage like Dwarves as well as get scaling Stamina instead of 5% Base Health.

    Troll: Berserking nerfed to 15% and now gives bonus EXP from killing Beasts instead of bonus damage against them. No passive stats nor helpful active (outside of the DPS gain).

    Blood Elf: Now gets 1% Crit chance and 3% mana up from 2% from using Arcane Torrent. If you're Arcane, they're decent for the mana gain, but there's definitely better races.

    Goblin: Almost unchanged. +1% Haste instead of Attack Speed. Again, better races.


    And finally, the neutral race.

    Pandaren: Unchanged. Still food buff doubled and Quaking Palm. For raw stats, I'm assuming Pandaren will be above the other races, but they don't have a useful active for PvE. Really good in that you get to pick your secondary (or even primary!) like Humans, but you need to eat to get the buff.


    So make of it what you will. Overall, the best races for Mage will be Human (best overall flexibility), Dwarf (for Fire specifically, or Frost PvP), Gnome (Arcane; questionable), and Pandaren (for raw stats). Orc and Troll also have those powerful actives for burst moments like always. Overall though, don't let it stress you out unless you're going to be racing for world first. The bonuses aren't THAT big.
    Last edited by Polarthief; 2014-05-27 at 06:33 PM.
    Still wondering why I play this game.
    I'm a Rogue and I also made a spreadsheet for the Order Hall that is updated for BfA.

  10. #10
    for alliance
    Gnome or draenei.
    Anemo: traveler, Sucrose
    Pyro: Yanfei, Amber, diluc, xiangling, thoma, Xinyan, Bennett
    Geo: Noelle, Ningguang, Yun Jin, Gorou
    Hydro: Barbara, Zingqiu, Ayato
    Cyro: Shenhe, Kaeya, Chongyun, Diona, Ayaka, Rosaria
    Electro: Fischl, Lisa, Miko, Kujou, Raiden, Razor

  11. #11
    Deleted
    Gnome won't be too great unless you're Arcane, specifically (since the extra mana means your Mastery gets a nice buff).
    Arcane's Mastery is based on mana percentage, not total mana. Therefore Gnome is equal to Night Elf.

  12. #12
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Darkvoltinx View Post
    for alliance
    Gnome or draenei.
    Not at all! Gnome doesn't give you anything and Draenei 1% hit its ok because are main stat but, help more 3% of secondary stats as human.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Lecho View Post
    Not at all! Gnome doesn't give you anything and Draenei 1% hit its ok because are main stat but, help more 3% of secondary stats as human.
    i was talking more about for WoD. since racials are being changed then and i would rather not have you feel like you need to reroll or waste money come WoD.
    Anemo: traveler, Sucrose
    Pyro: Yanfei, Amber, diluc, xiangling, thoma, Xinyan, Bennett
    Geo: Noelle, Ningguang, Yun Jin, Gorou
    Hydro: Barbara, Zingqiu, Ayato
    Cyro: Shenhe, Kaeya, Chongyun, Diona, Ayaka, Rosaria
    Electro: Fischl, Lisa, Miko, Kujou, Raiden, Razor

  14. #14
    Draenei seem to be the best choice. +X% to your primary stat (which for Mages would be Intellect), seems to trump any of the other racials which only provide a bonus to Secondary Stats. Gift of the Naaru healing for 20% of your health over 5 secs now is very strong indeed.

  15. #15
    Deleted
    off topic but what is the best race for horde atm?

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Aqira91 View Post
    off topic but what is the best race for horde atm?
    probably troll right now
    Anemo: traveler, Sucrose
    Pyro: Yanfei, Amber, diluc, xiangling, thoma, Xinyan, Bennett
    Geo: Noelle, Ningguang, Yun Jin, Gorou
    Hydro: Barbara, Zingqiu, Ayato
    Cyro: Shenhe, Kaeya, Chongyun, Diona, Ayaka, Rosaria
    Electro: Fischl, Lisa, Miko, Kujou, Raiden, Razor

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Lei Shi View Post
    Arcane's Mastery is based on mana percentage, not total mana. Therefore Gnome is equal to Night Elf.
    Exactly, and since you have an extra 15k mana, your mana % will ALWAYS be higher than if you were another race, meaning Arcane's Mastery will always benefit more as a Gnome, assuming you were do the exact same thing as any other race. For example: Let's just ASSUME in this scenario, you're at 100% mana and that's 100k mana (105k for Gnome). Arcane Blast costs 10k mana. So, as a Gnome after 1 ABL, you will have 95k mana, which is 90.48% (95k/105k), while as ANY other race, you would be at 90k mana, which is 90% (90k/100k), so your mana % would be higher as a Gnome, meaning Mastery benefits more as a Gnome.

    Quote Originally Posted by Alenarien View Post
    Draenei seem to be the best choice. +X% to your primary stat (which for Mages would be Intellect), seems to trump any of the other racials which only provide a bonus to Secondary Stats. Gift of the Naaru healing for 20% of your health over 5 secs now is very strong indeed.
    Assume that the Intellect will be ~half of the secondary stat, if not lower than. They'll probably make it fairly equal. For Draenei, it comes down to that now-pretty-good 4%HP1 (20%HP5) heal.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Aqira91 View Post
    off topic but what is the best race for horde atm?
    Troll, but Tauren if Tauren could be Mages. BElf isn't too bad; if they had Haste instead of Crit, they'd be on par with Gnomes for Arcane. Because they don't though, they're definitely worse. Arcane Torrent is pointless for non-Arcane due to Fire/Frost not having to deal with mana.
    Still wondering why I play this game.
    I'm a Rogue and I also made a spreadsheet for the Order Hall that is updated for BfA.

  18. #18
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Polarthief View Post
    Pretty sure they meant purely for stats. Night Elves also don't make the best Mages aethestically, imo.







    (Akraen, don't hate me >.>)
    I kinda have to agree with you about the nelf mages.

  19. #19
    Draenei is probably the best bet since bonus int is good for all 3 specs.

    Human is probably second since they can change which secondary stats they get based on which spec they are.

    Everyone else gets racials that might be really good for 1 spec, but not as great for another.

    Of course all this depends on stat weights in WoD which we have no clue about yet.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Wyrt View Post
    Draenei is probably the best bet since bonus int is good for all 3 specs.

    Human is probably second since they can change which secondary stats they get based on which spec they are.

    Everyone else gets racials that might be really good for 1 spec, but not as great for another.

    Of course all this depends on stat weights in WoD which we have no clue about yet.
    I'm still going to disagree with Draenei just for the Int boost. The heal, sure, but I'm sticking to my guns about Humans. Also, don't forget, NO OTHER RACE can pick Multistrike (which will be an amazing stat for Frost and Arcane), Mastery, or Readiness (which... well, most likely will be shit for all 3. Fire might benefit the most out of it). Plus that EMfH trinket is a lot more helpful than you non-Humans may think. Worgen is never a bad choice either due to that Sprint, and the Crit helps out Fire pretty nicely. I also feel that, assuming Mastery is one of Arcane's best stats going into WoD, Gnome will probably end up being the best for Arcane specifically.


    PS: If Humans can pick Crit Damage as a stat as well, that'd be insane. Maybe they'll implement Amplitude (Crit Damage) strictly for Humans, Dwarves, and Tauren, but not actually put it on gear right away. They never 100% scrapped Amplitude and Cleave; they simply shelved them.
    Still wondering why I play this game.
    I'm a Rogue and I also made a spreadsheet for the Order Hall that is updated for BfA.

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