"Frost: Recommended" on new characters.

[Deleted]

It seems that's the 'tutorial' tooltip you get when you reroll a new mage now and you choose for the first time a spec nowadays so it seems it's a design decision to make frost "the default" and the other two the niches, while frost was pvp dominating and fire pve and arcane niche-pve in the past, it seems to go to another direction now. Is there any official statement showing an official Devs stance on that kind of thing, showing if they have decided to make frost "the default" and why?

[Deleted]

The why is "simple". Beside the fact that u can lvl easily with every spec frost is the easiest one. U have tons of cc and good dmg (all speaking for the lvling). Also frost is very easy to play. Just nuke and click on proc.

[Imnick]

It's recommended for new characters because what new characters do is levelling, and what is useful for levelling is having a bunch of roots, slows, and a pet.
Don't read too much into it.

[Zelendria]

Use whichever spec you like the sound of. The other 2 both have a glyph. Arcane to Arcane Blast and Fire to Ignite that slows enemies.

[Deleted]

The why is "simple". Beside the fact that u can lvl easily with every spec frost is the easiest one. U have tons of cc and good dmg (all speaking for the lvling). Also frost is very easy to play. Just nuke and click on proc.

Arcane is simpler. Much simpler. You just find it extremely harder to play Arcane when you have to move, and you have to move in most fights, unless you know the fight so perfectly, you only move perfectly.

Also various "complicated" rotations in this game are made simplistic with addons.

e.g. I was told feral was the hardest in MoP and with addons was piece of cake.

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It's recommended for new characters because what new characters do is levelling, and what is useful for levelling is having a bunch of roots, slows, and a pet.
Don't read too much into it.

I was thinking that if it meant that, levelling, it would be about the short-term bursts.

Arcane has a burst, obviously - the whole spec is a "burst" - but it's more long-term.

Frost is more like "mini-nuke here", "mini-nuke there", it's why it was big in pvp.

[Imnick]

For someone who has never played a mage, or World of Warcraft, Frost will provide the easiest experience because even just spamming Frostbolt, enemies will have difficulty reaching you to deal damage. More so if you use your other spells.
That's it. That's the only reason.

[panda142]

After lvling a 2nd mage recently, the arcan spec is way faster to level actually, get the glyph that apply slow on arcan blast, get to 4 stacks, dont let them reset and OS (literally) everything till up to lvl 94 +-

[unbound]

For someone new to the game, Frost will have the easiest time since slows are included from the very beginning and cc offered pretty early in the leveling process. You can succeed with Frost up to max level without getting particularly good at it. Harder to pull that off with Fire or Arcane as a newcomer.

None of the specs are that hard to figure out and do well with for someone with experience. But someone with experience will probably ignore the suggestion anyways.

[Deleted]

Arcane is simpler. Much simpler. You just find it extremely harder to play Arcane when you have to move, and you have to move in most fights, unless you know the fight so perfectly, you only move perfectly.

Even standing frost is simpler because both specs have filler->proc->CDs but arcane has look at mana after that. Frost not. But as said before: Its for leveling. And while lvling u dont want to think about mana and ACs and Barrage and... u just go frost and nuke nuke nuke.

[Araitik]

Arcane has 0 cc, Fire is terrible at low ilvl, Frost has CC integrated into its filler spell, a pet, and is good even at low levels.

That is, and has always been the reason.

[Schmeebs]

Frost has ALWAYS been the recommended beginner/Starting/leveling spec for mages.

Since vanilla.

[Deleted]

How can you see that ? I never heard about that feature of "recommended spec" for new players. How can i see it in game ?

[Polarthief]

For someone who has never played a mage, or World of Warcraft, Frost will provide the easiest experience because even just spamming Frostbolt, enemies will have difficulty reaching you to deal damage. More so if you use your other spells.
That's it. That's the only reason.

^, and it's the best reason. Frostbolt spamming is better than Arcane Blast spamming unless you have heirlooms, simply because you will slow your target. You could argue "but the slow glyph!", but what's the odds of a brand new player knowing about glyphs or even having the gold to buy it if they did know about it?

After lvling a 2nd mage recently, the arcan spec is way faster to level actually, get the glyph that apply slow on arcan blast, get to 4 stacks, dont let them reset and OS (literally) everything till up to lvl 94 +-

See above. A BRAND NEW PLAYER who has NEVER EVEN SEEN WoW BEFORE won't know about the glyph.

Because they hate fire.

That much was always obvious

[isaac2314]

If I remember it right, wasn't the first spell you got back in vanilla frostbolt? I remember spamming them at zombies until I was level 3 back then. Not sure if this really support the argument that frost is recommended to new players even in vanilla.

[Deleted]

If I remember it right, wasn't the first spell you got back in vanilla frostbolt? I remember spamming them at zombies until I was level 3 back then. Not sure if this really support the argument that frost is recommended to new players even in vanilla.

Nope. The first spells you got back then were Fireball and Frost Armor.

[Polarthief]

If I remember it right, wasn't the first spell you got back in vanilla frostbolt? I remember spamming them at zombies until I was level 3 back then. Not sure if this really support the argument that frost is recommended to new players even in vanilla.

I happen to have the classic vanilla player's guide right here for some inexplicable reason, and all the following spells were trained at level 1:
- Arcane Intellect (Rank 1)
- Fireball (Rank 1)
- Frost Armor (Rank 1)

Frostbolt (Rank 1) was learned at Level 4, and Arcane Missiles (Rank 1) was learned at Level 8.

[Komman]

^, and it's the best reason. Frostbolt spamming is better than Arcane Blast spamming unless you have heirlooms, simply because you will slow your target. You could argue "but the slow glyph!", but what's the odds of a brand new player knowing about glyphs or even having the gold to buy it if they did know about it?

The much bigger issue is that both slow and ignite glyphs aren't buyable now, and instead automatically learnt at level 75. Arcane and Fire have no passive slow until then.

Actually, now that I think about it, the glyph won't even work for Fire until level 80, because that's when you get ignite. Why do they give us the glyph at level 75 again?

[Polarthief]

The much bigger issue is that both slow and ignite glyphs aren't buyable now, and instead automatically learnt at level 75. Arcane and Fire have no passive slow until then.

Actually, now that I think about it, the glyph won't even work for Fire until level 80, because that's when you get ignite. Why do they give us the glyph at level 75 again?

Not that it's a huge issue to a new player anyways since, again, they'd have to know-about-and-seek-out the glyphs in the first place!

Because Blizzard Logic™.

[nickseng]

Also when talking about burst, don't forget that Frost has shatter, which is a nice reliable burst.
Frost Nova -> Frostbolt -> Icelance was the cool combo before all those new-fangled FoF procs

[Polarthief]

Also when talking about burst, don't forget that Frost has shatter, which is a nice reliable burst.
Frost Nova -> Frostbolt -> Icelance was the cool combo before all those new-fangled FoF procs

Indeed! Frost is unquestionably better for soloing when new/ungeared. When geared (heirlooms or top-notch max level gear), Arcane comes out ahead, but at that point, what the hell are you soloing anyways?