After the shock and horror of the recent patch notes, I give you this. What follows is an exhaustive list of changes that have been designed and discussed in order to rectify some of the more severe problems with the Mage class. A few warnings before you begin reading:
1) This is not a set of concrete demands, this is a list of concepts proposed to benefit the class.
2) The numbers are not intended to be set in stone, and can be altered for balance purposes.
With that, read away, discuss, and feel free to ask questions about the reasoning behind any of these changes. Many thanks to Pewpewblast, Shangalar, Thaladhrun, and others for their input.
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General
- Mana Gem removed.
- Baseline regeneration from Nether Attunement increased, and will now calculate regeneration based on haste, mastery, or critical strike, whichever is highest.
- Evocation has been changed, restoring 5% of your health instantly, and another 25% over 5 seconds, with a cooldown of 45 seconds. It now no longer restores mana.
- Shatter removed as a baseline ability.
- Counterspell cooldown reduced to 15 seconds, down from 24. School lockout changed to 4 sec to bring it in line with melee interrupts.
- Arcane Brilliance increases spell haste by 5% rather than critical strike chance.
- Blizzard is now instant cast rather than channeled, and has a five second cooldown.
- Arcane Explosion is now a targetable AoE.
- Flamestrike has been removed and replaced by Blast Wave.
- Ice Barrier is now a baseline ability, recieved at level 30.
- Spellsteal's mana cost has been reverted to 3% of base mana, now has a 6 second cooldown, steals two spells rather than one, and now has a priority queue of active damage boosts > Heals over Time > passive stat buffs.
- Mirror Image and Cone of Cold have been switched; the former is gained at level 28, the latter at level 48.
Arcane
- Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles have been given new animations.
- Arcane Explosion will always generate an Arcane Charge if at least four targets are hit. In addition, its damage is increased by 30% per stack of Arcane Charge, up from 24%.
- New Spell: Mana Tap. Taps into nearby ley energies, restoring 45,000 mana (at level 90). 2 min cooldown.
- Ice Lance now becomes a new spell called Nether Bolt for Arcane mages. Nether Bolt is instant cast, deals 115% of the damage of a single wave of Arcane Missiles, and refreshes your stacks of Arcane Charge. Damage is increased by 24% per stack of Arcane Charge.
- Arcane Missiles altered. Your Arcane damage spells now have 40% chance to generate two stacks of Arcane Surge, stacking up to four times and which can be used for one of two spells: Arcane Missiles, or Nether Bolt. Arcane Missiles consumes two stacks of Arcane Surge, while Nether Bolt only consumes one.
- Arcane Power has been changed. While the damage benefit and mana cost increase remain the same, at the end of its duration it will restore 15% of your mana immediately, and another 45% over 5 sec. This effect cannot be reset by Alter Time.
Fire
- Combustion damage increased to 75% of Ignite.
- Your Fireball spell now generates a proc of Molten Fury, stacking up to 5 times. Each stack reduces the cast time and mana cost of your Pyroblast spell by 20%, and increase its damage by 2%. Gaining Hot Streak will clear your stacks of Molten Fury.
- Inferno Blast is now off the Global Cooldown, and will spread your Combustion, Pyroblast, and Ignite effects to all targets within 8 yards.
- Living Bomb is no longer able to be spread by Inferno Blast.
Frost
- The Frostburn Mastery now increases the bonus damage provided by your Frostbolt spell. In addition, the Frostbolt debuff now applies its bonus damage to Frostfire Bolt.
- Casting Summon Water Elemental while an Elemental is already active will restore its health to full and clear all debuff and damage over time effects from it.
- Fingers of Frost and Brain Freeze now multiply the critical strike chance of Ice Lance and Frostfire Bolt by 2.5.
- Your Water Elemental recieves a number of changes:
- Water Jets: Launches a volley of water jets, striking a target as well as all targets within 8 yards of the primary target for X Frost damage. 15 sec cooldown.- Deluge: Places a debuff on an enemy target, causing the next Frostbolt spell cast by the Mage to generate two charges of Fingers of Frost. 25 sec cooldown, sharing a cooldown with Freeze.
- Freeze will only generate charges of Fingers of Frost when it successfully roots targets.
- Your Water Elemental will now passively be healed for 5% of all Frost damage you deal, in addition to being healed using Frostbolt.
- Using Ice Lance against a target affected by your Blizzard spell will now cause Ice Lance to also strike all targets within 8 yards of the primary target for 25% of the damage dealt.
Talents
Level 15
- Presence of Mind now has a 45 second cooldown. In addition when Presence of Mind is consumed, the mage recieves a buff called Arcane Mind, allowing the next 2 damage spells within 8 seconds to be cast while moving.
- Scorch has been replaced with a new passive talent, Fiery Inspiration. Each damage spell with a cast time that is cast while stationary has a chance of generating a Spark of Inspiration, stacking up to four times. While active, Spark of Inspiration allows you to cast while moving, with each cast time spell consuming a Spark.
- Ice Floes no longer has charges, permitting the casting of all mage spells while moving for 8 seconds. Casting an instant cast spell while Ice Floes is active will increase the duration by 1 second, up to a maximum of 4 additional seconds.
Level 30
- Blazing Speed has been replaced by a passive talent, Phase Shift, which causes you to move at 75% increased movement speed for 3 seconds after casting Blink, as well as surpressing all movement impairing effects during that time.
- Ice Barrier has been replaced by a new talent, Refraction, which increases the health of your Mirror Images, reduces the damage they take from area of effect spells , and causes some of the damage you take to be split amongst your Images instead.
Level 45
- Frostjaw has been replaced with Deep Freeze.
Level 60
- Greater Invisibility now removes all damage over time effects when cast, up from two.
Level 75
- Nether Tempest periodic damage is reduced by 20%, and now strikes a nearby target within 8 yards for 120% of its periodic damage every tick.
- Living Bomb's periodic damage decreased by 20%, explosive damage is increased by 20%, and automatically spreads spell to two nearby targets within 8 yards of the primary target.
- Frost Bomb now has a six second duration, exploding for X damage after 2 seconds, 2X damage after 4 sec, and 4X damage at 6 sec. 8 second cooldown.
Level 90
EDIT: Scrapped, working on them again. Feel free to make suggestions.