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  1. #241
    A quick question about haste softcap and Simcraft.

    I am at Haste softcap with T13 2 piece. However, SimC still suggests that Haste > Mastery > Crit. Any idea why?

  2. #242
    Stood in the Fire ODDLAWL's Avatar
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    Hey guys I just recently got my mage to 85, as arcane of course, but I'm still really really confused about the whole regen phase and burn phase. When exactly is burn phase? How on earth do you regen mana at all? What I used to do in dungeons, is that when the boss was engaged, I popped AP and MIs then used MG at around 85% mana. If I saw I was getting low on mana I'd just cast 5-6 AB then just ABr whenever possible and sometimes not even AB at all and just ABr and AM.
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  3. #243
    Quote Originally Posted by ODDLAWL View Post
    Hey guys I just recently got my mage to 85, as arcane of course, but I'm still really really confused about the whole regen phase and burn phase. When exactly is burn phase? How on earth do you regen mana at all? What I used to do in dungeons, is that when the boss was engaged, I popped AP and MIs then used MG at around 85% mana. If I saw I was getting low on mana I'd just cast 5-6 AB then just ABr whenever possible and sometimes not even AB at all and just ABr and AM.
    The difference between a 'burn phase' and 'conservation phase' is essentially the resetting of stacks. A burn phase is always ended with an Evocation (at 35% mana). The best way to initiate a burn phase is to AB until you're around 85% mana, use flame orb... then pop mana gem, arcane power, and any on use trinkets you might be using. In addition you should be popping mirror images after AP is popped (it shouldn't cost a GCD if glyphed). After that simply spam AB until you reach 35%, and Evocate.

    During a conservation phase, you should be resetting your arcane blast stacks in order to stay around 85-90% mana until you can begin another burn phase. Depending on your gear level, you can cast 3-6 (sometimes more at higher gear levels and while using Shard of Woe) Arcane blasts before clearing your stacks with Arcane Missiles. You really have to manage your mana well in this phase. You don't want to dip too low or else your next burn won't be as powerful. Also note that the only time you should be clearing your stacks with an ABr is during movement.

    So the whole conservation phase you should be doing Arcane blast > clear stacks with Arcane Missiles. You have to kind of 'eyeball' your mana usage in this phase. Mage armor should give you decent regen but not enough to allow for constant AB spamming, especially at low gear levels. You're going to want to begin your burn phase when your Evocation is at a point in the cooldown where it will be ready once you are finished with the burn. This is usually when there is 20-30 seconds lefts on your Evo CD (once again depending on your gear and the presence of Shard of Woe).

    Arcane is one of the specs that can really vary depending on the mechanics of fights as well as the gear that you have. It honestly becomes much more forgiving at higher gear levels, but it's good to start out at the bottom so you learn the repercussions of bad mana usage.

    <Stage Clear> 14/14H Always Recruiting

  4. #244
    Stood in the Fire ODDLAWL's Avatar
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    Thanks that really gave me lots of information I didn't know stacks should be cleared with AM! So conservation phase happens right after burn phase then? Right after I Evo then I'm just supposed to 4stack AB then AM until the next burn phase?

    Again, thanks for the info
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  5. #245
    The Insane Aquamonkey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Norech View Post
    The difference between a 'burn phase' and 'conservation phase' is essentially the resetting of stacks. A burn phase is always ended with an Evocation (at 35% mana). The best way to initiate a burn phase is to AB until you're around 85% mana, use flame orb... then pop mana gem, arcane power, and any on use trinkets you might be using. In addition you should be popping mirror images after AP is popped (it shouldn't cost a GCD if glyphed). After that simply spam AB until you reach 35%, and Evocate.
    You should save Flame Orb for a regen phase after a miniburn phase. Based on how long you can AB spam before 35% evo, your timings might line up just right where Flame Orb is off cd when you need it after the miniburn. At least in 4t12, I could FO before full burn, 35% evo, and continue AB spam until 60-70% mp when FO came off cd and use AM procs to regen back to 90%. Using FO for regen phases is even more important once you get 4t13, when you should be popping AP between full burn phases. Popping FO early and often is nice, just make sure you have it when you need it.

  6. #246
    High Overlord Namso's Avatar
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    Hello.

    I require assistance from advanced Arcane mages in regards to my group's own mage. I personally don't have enough knowledge to help him myself, so I'd like for you all to chime in to make him better.

    His armory: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...lanhunt/simple
    Ultraxion N log: http://worldoflogs.com/reports/bjxlx...c7c/details/7/

    Being 397 equipped ilvl, I'm certain he can pull a lot more dps than what he's doing at the moment. I don't think it's right for him to literally always be last or second last on the meters in almost every fight in Dragon Soul when he has the highest item level out of every other dps.

    So please, if you notice anything that he's doing wrong or some general tips to improve his dps, please let me know so I can refer him to this thread. Thank you very much!

  7. #247
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    Quote Originally Posted by Namso View Post
    Hello.

    I require assistance from advanced Arcane mages in regards to my group's own mage. I personally don't have enough knowledge to help him myself, so I'd like for you all to chime in to make him better.

    His armory: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...lanhunt/simple
    Ultraxion N log: http://worldoflogs.com/reports/bjxlx...c7c/details/7/

    Being 397 equipped ilvl, I'm certain he can pull a lot more dps than what he's doing at the moment. I don't think it's right for him to literally always be last or second last on the meters in almost every fight in Dragon Soul when he has the highest item level out of every other dps.

    So please, if you notice anything that he's doing wrong or some general tips to improve his dps, please let me know so I can refer him to this thread. Thank you very much!
    The first thing I noticed from his armory is that he's not using his 4-set. Not only that, but he's using a chest piece with spirit on it. It's even worse - he's transmogged it into the T13 chest, which means he has it. That is absolutely the first thing he should change. Spirit is as useful for Mages in PvE as Resilience is. Not only does it not have any positive use, but it takes up space where a more useful stat could be. Get him in 4T13 ASAP.

    Other than that, just from his armory, he seems to be OK. It's been a while since I played Arcane but from what I remember, the stat priority is Hit to Cap>Mastery>Haste>Crit, which he seems to be following. I'll have a look at the log you provided to see if there are any obvious flaws.

    Also, I may be being slightly facetious when I say this but the easiest way for him to increase his DPS right now is to respec Fire.

  8. #248
    Quote Originally Posted by Stony Steve Lemon View Post
    The first thing I noticed from his armory is that he's not using his 4-set. Not only that, but he's using a chest piece with spirit on it. It's even worse - he's transmogged it into the T13 chest, which means he has it. That is absolutely the first thing he should change. Spirit is as useful for Mages in PvE as Resilience is. Not only does it not have any positive use, but it takes up space where a more useful stat could be. Get him in 4T13 ASAP.

    Other than that, just from his armory, he seems to be OK. It's been a while since I played Arcane but from what I remember, the stat priority is Hit to Cap>Mastery>Haste>Crit, which he seems to be following. I'll have a look at the log you provided to see if there are any obvious flaws.

    Also, I may be being slightly facetious when I say this but the easiest way for him to increase his DPS right now is to respec Fire.
    Hi Steve this is Dylanhunt (Emberhunt is my 'main' mage...I have 5 mages)

    I use the spirit chest because it is a 397 chest. I have the 384 LFR tier which I transmogged just for the hell of it..no particular reason. If you look at my activity you'll see that I JUST got the mantle and I haven't had a chance to try out the 4 piece (using LFR chest vs spirit) but I will soon.

    I have used SimulationCraft making sure the buffs match according to real life raids in our group and it says I'm doing about the DPS I should be doing. The only time I see any kind of drastic improvement is if I happen to Focus Magic a high uptime party member, such as our healing priest...I get over 90% uptime and my dps goes up 2-4k.

    If anyone could look at our H Ultra attempts and give me tips on how to improve my DPS I'd be most grateful.
    World of Logs: 6 H Ultra attempts: reports/rt-b4ngpvy71fn98k5h


    Thank you,
    Amber/Bryce/Chase/Dylan/Ember/Frankie/Gileshunt - Aerie Peak

  9. #249
    A 384 tier set intellect chest is going to be far more useful than a spirit chest, even if it is a higher item level.
    Even if you reforge out of the spirit, it is ~170 stat points in a stat that is completely useless to you, more stat points than you gain by equipping an item of a higher item level.

  10. #250
    What are your thoughts about using Mana Shield in combination with AP+Mana gem on Burst rotation? Is it too much of mana loss, or is the increase of spellPower a DPS increase overall? Several mages use it and some don't.

  11. #251
    Epic! Valanna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tubawizard View Post
    What are your thoughts about using Mana Shield in combination with AP+Mana gem on Burst rotation? Is it too much of mana loss, or is the increase of spellPower a DPS increase overall? Several mages use it and some don't.
    It's worth it, but only during AP or if you have a GCD to spare. Even mage ward doesn't make up for the lost GCD with IA.
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  12. #252
    Casting Shield/Ward when you are moving is a good idea because if you are going to take damage once you are standing still again it provides a DPS increase and doesn't reset your AB stacks
    Casting it while on your burn rotation though is likely to become a DPS decrease even if your shield breaks and gives you the maximum spellpower bonus. It simply doesn't provide enough damage to make up for even a single fully powered Arcane Blast, especially if you've just used cooldowns.

  13. #253
    Herald of the Titans Shangalar's Avatar
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    Well...

    After a week of wiping on Yor'sahj 25 Heroic, my guild did our usual normal clean-up today so I decided to go Arcane for this special occasion (proper reforging and all put me at slightly over 20 Mastery). I'm submitting the logs so other mages can check them out or if there are people who want to learn more about Arcane in DS, I hope this can help them. The only special buff I had all night was Focus Magic, traded between 2 arcane mages, so it was a 6% crit benefit, putting me at 35% with the raid buff and a fire mage's critical mass on the bosses.

    One thing I unfortunately had to learn is that on Ultraxion, if you die, you need 45-60 seconds to get back into a proper rotation by raising your mana up to over 80%. It was dreadful. I was second last on damage done (not counting tanks). I had a retard moment with Fading Light, watching the debuff reaching zero and not using the ability. No idea what got into me

    On Yor'sahj we had only one Black phase if I remember correctly so I couldn't experiment with Explosion as much as I wanted to.

    On Hagara we had some people dead from the Ice Waves so it took a while to kill her, but I had Power up for every burn phase which let me be first on damage done.

    On Blackhorn I just nuked whatever was closest, prioritizing of course the drakes and then Goriona. The result was average.

    On Spine I was on Corruption duty and of course, I pwned the Burning Tendons.

    On Madness, the one I was really looking forward to, I managed to rank 90 on World of Longs. I went into burn phases only on Cataclysm and in P2 with Heroism. After we cleared Alexstraza's platform, I didn't cheat and I always shot the blistering tentacles. I'm hoping that on our normal clear next week I can rank better with hopefully a Power Infusion or ToT during the burn phases. This time Power Infusion went to our moonkin guild master. Additionally, I didn't have any mana problems, you just have to focus a bit on what you're doing.

    Here are the logs: Perfection @ Ravencrest-EU, 28.2.2012.

    I hope these logs prove useful in some way.


    Edit: Please don't look at my Fire Mages... I've been trying to teach them to use Combustion for about an eternity now and we're slowly working up to it. It became mandatory when we started practicing Yor'sahj HC.

  14. #254
    I guess this is now the place to discuss arcane rotations etc. I switched back to this spec recently and still testing. what i realized in nearly all posts is that Nooone speaks about how to handle AP during Conservation phase if you have the tier 13 setbounus.

    Making calculations and testing dummys i realized that i can use AP twice during conservation phase and eventualy delay my burnphase by1-5 sec depending on encounter.
    So now question when i use AP during conservation phase i try to burn AB as much as posib but dont go under 75% mana or just continue my normal 90% mana rotation(XAB+AM).

    Any tipps or imporvments for proper use of AP during conservation phase are highly welcome. TY

    This is me : http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...emaxm/advanced

    Using BW for spine

  15. #255
    Swizzle I'm just curious as to how you picked the BiS list. Did you just choose pieces with Mastery on it? Did you run multiple sims? Or perhaps you chose BiS from Rawr?

  16. #256
    i am a 396 ilevel arcane mage with questions on my optimization
    i am from the server ner'zhul(us) ingame name: clucks
    1) insignia or cunning? i have both but askmrrobot says coc is better and other places say insignia is
    2) reforging to crit? when is this good
    3) offpeices: use spine gloves or valor helmet? or use 5piece 397 teir
    4) boots: use kavans forsaken treads or janglespur jackboots

    Stat Ranking Int > Hit > SP > Mastery > Crit = Haste
    based on simcraft

    ? Int SP Hit Crit Haste Mastery
    Scale Factors 5.4018 3.0766 4.2988 1.8360 1.5475 2.2071

    just really confused and would like some feedback thanks!

  17. #257
    Quote Originally Posted by antant View Post
    i am a 396 ilevel arcane mage with questions on my optimization
    i am from the server ner'zhul(us) ingame name: clucks
    1) insignia or cunning? i have both but askmrrobot says coc is better and other places say insignia is
    2) reforging to crit? when is this good
    3) offpeices: use spine gloves or valor helmet? or use 5piece 397 teir
    4) boots: use kavans forsaken treads or janglespur jackboots

    Stat Ranking Int > Hit > SP > Mastery > Crit = Haste
    based on simcraft

    ? Int SP Hit Crit Haste Mastery
    Scale Factors 5.4018 3.0766 4.2988 1.8360 1.5475 2.2071

    just really confused and would like some feedback thanks!
    1) Stick with Cunning of the Cruel, with the amount of haste you have in full tier gear even after reforging it off of every piece you have plenty enough.
    2) Reforge haste to crit once you are at or above the soft haste cap with 2pt13(1268) if you are already hit capped and mastery is already on the piece.
    3) Use the Gloves of Liquid Smoke, more int=better.
    4) This one im not too sure about but i believe the valor boots are better pre heroic.

    Stat Priority should be Int>Hit>SP>Haste to softcap>mastery>crit>haste

  18. #258
    Should I drop 2 point out of Prismatic Cloak or Incanter's Absorption to get both Imp Arcane Explosion and 2/3 Fire Power?

  19. #259
    Herald of the Titans Shangalar's Avatar
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    Fire Power is theoretically the best Arcane DPS build because it gives you damage done. However, the damage done is totally worthless compared to having 3 points in Prismatic Cloak which is the only way an Arcane Mage can reduce their damage taken, which is often a life-saver in raids. All other classes and specs have survival tools, Arcane Mages have Ice Block - once in 5 minutes, Mage Ward which is good only for Fire, Frost, Arcane and Mana Shield which you should never ever ever use if you are Arcane.

    Therefore, stick to Prismatic Cloak.

    This is my Arcane spec: Shangalar

    I even removed Nether Vortex because it's painfully useless since it's given by Prot Paladins, Prot Warrios, Feral Tanks and Elemental Shamans (and other Arcane Mages in a potential 25-man raid ) so I invested those 2 points in Improved Arcane Explosion for various adds.

    Note that I play Arcane in raids only when we go for the normal clear, because I like Arcane. But if I had to play Arcane (like one of our mages for the 3% buff), I'd go with this spec.

    Also, if you're looking at my Armory, look only at the talents, everything else is currently fitted for Fire, I just farm old content in Arcane.

  20. #260
    I see what you're saying. but I'm gonna try dropping IA due to the stronger argument for PC and see how it works.

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