Which specs will be best for which situations in 6.1?

[Avikur]

With the announcement 6.1 is coming out next week it's fairly safe to say there won't be any big changes between now and then, so I was just wondering as it stands at the moment which specs will be best for:

Single target

Cleave

AoE

And also which level 75, 90 and 100 talents are looking best for each spec? Will Frost finally be using comet storm in PVE?!

[Polarthief]

Nothing really changes in 6.1 for these situations. ST is Arcane (if no movement), Cleave/AoE is Fire, unless it's very short term and lines up with your Frozen Orb, but no fight really comes to mind instantly. If you have your 4P, Fire is also competitive for single-target with Frost, though 4P is being nerfed (1.0 RPPM to 0.7) in 6.1.

[Amsden]

For me personally it's Frost for all of them, because I enjoy it. I'm not in a hardcore guild so I can play what I want and not change specs every boss.

As for what is the best (assuming BRF gear) ST = Arcane, Cleave and AoE = Fire

As for Comet Storm, I really hope so.

[Polarthief]

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...1#post32325905

Comet Storm is definitely usable now, but keep in mind that this is with 4P bonuses, which pushes FBomb up quite a bit, so numbers are a tad skewed if you don't have it. (You'd also think 4P would push up TV but apparently not as much) Without 4P, CmS is definitely a contender now, but even with it, it's still usable. 92%(?) buff made it quite awesome.

[Gnomorepuns]

I still think it is going to be Arcane for ST/Bursty fights (mainly talking about mythic) and fire for those cleave fights (where you can really drill into 2+ targets). So I really don't think it is going to change. Fire talents do not change whatsoever with the cleave fights, and the only real change with arcane is switching between RoP and IF.

[Derzorvadur]

Honestly, I know it's a combination of my stat distribution and my comfort level with Frost over the other specs. But, outside of spread targets/AOE I don't see any real increase in damage when I have tried the other specs. I don't understand why people think that Frost is just -so- much worse then Arcane single target and that Fire is just god tier for cleave. For AoE if I can get decent uptime and procs with Frozen Orb I can do just fine.

I get that they mathematically do out perform Frost in those situations, but I don't personally feel it's a massive enough increase for people to just abandon Frost as if it's so inferior that even the most mundane of Arcane/Fire players can be successful. Those specs are so gear dependent too, especially Fire.

[fearist]

fine compared to your own dps or compared to top parses? cause theres a significant gap between the 3 specs.

[Deleted]

nothing changes for 6.1
single - Arcane
cleave/AoE - Fire
with ~same mastery gear

[Polarthief]

fine compared to your own dps or compared to top parses? cause theres a significant gap between the 3 specs.

There's always a significant gap because every top player goes the spec that has 50 extra DPS (obviously exaggerating, but if it ever came that close, they would). If the top Mage played all 3 specs in BiS gear, I'm willing to bet their numbers would be pretty close, with Arcane eeking out higher on single-target fights, assuming it's not a high-movement fight, and Fire being significantly higher on AoE fights (simply because it's so OP on cleave fights).

But because the best Mages go whatever is FOTM, of course the parses are skewed.

nothing changes for 6.1
single - Arcane
cleave/AoE - Fire
with ~same mastery gear

Mastery might be ever so slightly less valued for Fire due to the 1.0 => 0.7 RPPM nerf to the 4P, but yes, nothing really changes outside of Mirror Images now never being used by any spec (Frost included now), and Comet Storm is usable (but still not best).

[gallamann]

Frankly there is a talent on just about every tier that should never have made the game, and I refuse to play. RoP, PC, whole 45 tier is useless in PvE., Flameglow.

The gear in BRF pretty much forces a movement away from Frost, believe its 4 pc's (wrist/boots BoE's and chest/pants tier) with MS... Or you run Mythic HM (hard for those of us who don't do mythics) or Mythic HM Missions (one per 2 weeks) and take that as you upgrades (or move too 3 crafted pieces upgraded to 680 with 6.1). With those limits, I will be starting a crit set for Fire from BRF gear.

It is frustrating that Blizzard seems to have zero clue that every spec needs to upgrade thru new content, we saw it in HM with preponderance of MS gear, and now seeing it in BRF with virtual elimination of MS gear. Someone did a piss poor job itemizing these raids. They also don't seem to give a beep that people enjoy one spec and would prefer to stick with that spec. A move to certain slots having the "primary" secondary stat change based on spec playing would be a solid way to address their inability to itemize well.

[Swoon]

Frankly there is a talent on just about every tier that should never have made the game, and I refuse to play. RoP, PC, whole 45 tier is useless in PvE., Flameglow.

The gear in BRF pretty much forces a movement away from Frost, believe its 4 pc's (wrist/boots BoE's and chest/pants tier) with MS... Or you run Mythic HM (hard for those of us who don't do mythics) or Mythic HM Missions (one per 2 weeks) and take that as you upgrades (or move too 3 crafted pieces upgraded to 680 with 6.1). With those limits, I will be starting a crit set for Fire from BRF gear.

It is frustrating that Blizzard seems to have zero clue that every spec needs to upgrade thru new content, we saw it in HM with preponderance of MS gear, and now seeing it in BRF with virtual elimination of MS gear. Someone did a piss poor job itemizing these raids. They also don't seem to give a beep that people enjoy one spec and would prefer to stick with that spec. A move to certain slots having the "primary" secondary stat change based on spec playing would be a solid way to address their inability to itemize well.

6 out of 7 talent tiers are useful on every encounter, no one is forcing you to use RoP or PC, Flameglow is perfectly fine.

Incanters averages out to 12%, RoP is 15%, you shouldn't be moving much on really any of the fights and you can get away with using RoP on a few fights with zero work.

If you aren't doing mythic progression you can play whatever you want because it doesn't really matter, and it's laughable at best that you think that they should add more items swapping stats based on spec, where's the fun in that?

Oh, got my new -insert item you obtained-, now I'll be using it for the next year because nothing else will ever be an upgrade because it switches based on what spec I want to play!

If you want to optimize your gear based on the spec you're playing, carrying around a few other items really isn't a big deal..

tl;dr: No need to dumb down the game even more for people that don't want to work for their items, no one is forcing you to play RoP/PC or arcane/fire and for normal/heroic you can play whatever you want honestly.

[Deleted]

Mastery might be ever so slightly less valued for Fire due to the 1.0 => 0.7 RPPM nerf to the 4P, but yes, nothing really changes outside of Mirror Images now never being used by any spec (Frost included now), and Comet Storm is usable (but still not best).

mastery will be best for situation, where you will play fire, because with 2P you have much more room to spred Ignite when you want

[Karumai]

I will never stop playing Frost :-(

[Deleted]

I will never stop playing Frost :-(

That's perfectly fine if you want, frost is still a very strong spec.

[Amsden]

Honestly, I know it's a combination of my stat distribution and my comfort level with Frost over the other specs. But, outside of spread targets/AOE I don't see any real increase in damage when I have tried the other specs. I don't understand why people think that Frost is just -so- much worse then Arcane single target and that Fire is just god tier for cleave. For AoE if I can get decent uptime and procs with Frozen Orb I can do just fine.

I get that they mathematically do out perform Frost in those situations, but I don't personally feel it's a massive enough increase for people to just abandon Frost as if it's so inferior that even the most mundane of Arcane/Fire players can be successful. Those specs are so gear dependent too, especially Fire.

The difference isn't that big and all 3 specs are viable. For raiding on the more casual side they're close enough that the best spec for you could very well be determined by comfort level.

Next tier could be very different though as frost suffers from scaling issues, while fire gets very good as ilvl's rise. I would suggest sticking with frost while your guild is on progression then start practicing with fire once you start farming. That's what I'm doing anyway, I love frost and the only time I don't play it is if I feel it's holding my guild back, which I fear may well be the case by next tier.

[Deleted]

Fire DOES NOT IN ANY WAY outscale Frost or Arcane significantly. At all. All 3 specs scale very favourably with gear:

http://altered-time.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1178
http://altered-time.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=750

Frost itself is one of the specs that currently scale best with item level, relative to all the other specs in the game.

[Deleted]

If the top Mage played all 3 specs in BiS gear, I'm willing to bet their numbers would be pretty close,

You spout an awful lot of nonsense. No, if any top Mages played all 3 specs perfectly, their numbers would not be pretty close. Arcane will always be doing 3-4k more than the other specs, regardless of gear level, when played properly.

edit: tried to post logs and sims, don't have permission

with Arcane eeking out higher on single-target fights, assuming it's not a high-movement fight,

There is no single target fight in which a high amount of movement will make the other specs suddenly deal more DPS than Arcane, assuming all specs are played properly. You have freaking Ice Floes and multiple Aspect of the Fox cooldowns!!! This is such a common huge misconception about Arcane and it's getting irritating to read over and over

But because the best Mages go whatever is FOTM, of course the parses are skewed.

What the hell kind of comment is that? You are hopeless. The ''best Mages'' play what performs best, which in turn makes said spec(s) FOTM. Do you have even the slightest idea of causality? *massive sigh*

[Invrlose]

Arcane for every fight except for Operator thogar. A lot of the "AOE" in BRF is just meter padding. There's always a priority target that has to die ASAP.

[Deleted]

Arcane for every fight except for Operator thogar. A lot of the "AOE" in BRF is just meter padding. There's always a priority target that has to die ASAP.

fire for (all is for mythic ofc):

Thogar - adds must die asap
Iron Maidens - where do you see padding here?
Beastlord - depends on your raid setup but with all those LBs explosions you will looss pretty much nothing on single target dmg and on mythic these small adds realy hurt
Blast Furnace - depens on you raid setup - on mythic you don't have enough dmg to kill elementalist on one slag elemental, so fire can be useful, because you are cleving all Firecallers,... on the elementalist
Hans & Franz - with all the movement on mythic arcane is realy shit there and it is so short fight that your most important dmg is opener combustion on both bosses
Flamebender - only problem on mythic are wolfs (4 wolfs) and fire is just too strong with combustion on them (because you are cleaving all of them on the boss)

i realy don't see any padding on these bosses...

[Deleted]

There is no argument that Fire is godmode on AoE. Frost, even though being middle of the pack is still pretty damn good when compared to other classes.