Infraction for Bimbolina: 2. All opinions should be stated as succinctly as possible.

• tenshi · 08/24/11, 3:03 PM

Post: [Cataclysm] Mage Simple Questions and Answers (Read the First Post)
User: Bimbolina
Infraction: 2. All opinions should be stated as succinctly as possible.
Points: 1

Administrative Note:

Message to User:

Your post violates multiple forum rules. By my count, you've violated rules 1, 2, 6, 7 and 9 in your post. Please re-read http://elitistjerks.com/f15/a54-foru...dated_7_14_10/ before posting again.

As this is your first infraction, I'm going to refrain from banning you and removing your post from mage class forum, which is customary for such an egregious violation of the forum rules. Instead, I've moved the post and the replies to SQSA thread.

As for the actual questions you ask, there is one thing that sticks out to me.

Originally Posted by bimbolina

Should I not be focussing all reforges on 1 stat? - or is it the wrong stat?

This is a very misguided thing to be looking for. For the most part, with acquisition of every new piece of gear and change in your stats the relative value of secondary stats is going to change. So there no one best secondary rating for you to be reforging to that is gear set up independent. You should check yourself what they are in RAWR or Simcraft with your gear up at any given point.

Finally, it should be noted that EJ class mechanics forums are a place for in depth discussions of the class mechanics, especially end game class mechanics. They are not a Q&A forums for asking how to play a spec outside of the explicitly designated threads. Hopefully this reminder and your rereading of the forum rules will result in better and infraction free participation from you in the future. Regards,

Original Post:

My confusion has just been maximized by reading this thread..... especially the higher level math goes right over my head.... and then people seem to have widely different philosophies on the secondary stats.

So, please endulge me, for a few questions, that might seem noobish to some of you.

First, I'm an arcane mage, ilvl 367, who in the last few weeks started on the FL 10 man raids (normal).

I keep reading on various mage forums, that at "my level", I SHOULD be doing 20k+ dps - but the reality is I only seem to do 15-16k

So, I have 2 questions:

1: I try to use the following fight rotation (I use mageManaBar btw):

Pop Moonwell Chalice (for increased mastery)
Spam AB
Pop mana gem
Pop fireball & mirror image
Pop Arcane Power
Spam AB
Pop evocation
.....then concervation phase (2-3 AB + 1 Missilies to stay above 90 % mana all the time) till mana gem is off cooldown, while popping fireball anytime it's off cooldown.

Is this right - or am I completely missing some finer point damaging my ability to do higher dps?

2: I am extremely confused as to how to weight haste/mastery/crit

Now, I understand the dynamics change as the gear changes - I see the stats on the gear I hope to drop for me soon..... but I am looking for a general idea on how to do my reforges here.

My own thinking is, that haste is bad, since it will mean less mastery (less dmg at the top of the mana range) AND burn off my mana faster (so seems like a lose/lose situation?).

Also, nobody seems to ever mention crit as a priority?

So, as of right now, after the reforges needed to reach the hit cap, I have reforged all the crit and haste I could, to mastery.

Am I way off base here?

Should I not be focussing all reforges on 1 stat? - or is it the wrong stat?

Any, in depth, advice from experienced arcane mages that have the math down would be greatly appreciated.... but please - use laymans terms - you replying with a graph or a bunch of 0s and 1s will only add to my confusion.

Thanks beforhand

"The confused mage"