I don't know what happened to the "or Iceblock: Dicuss thread", so I started a new one.

What does everyone think about the season 2 gear and weapons? Personally I'm getting the Spellblade and wand on day 1, as I'm on a burst team and damage is more important than a couple stat points on the armor. Using a 1 hander also allows for some PVE flexibility (flametounge), and not to mention the fact that everyone and their brother has that big red staff.

After that I think I'll get 2 pieces of the season 2 set to double stack the bonus with the hologogs, then go for the offhand.

The armor bonus is nice but I can't say I wouldn't have rather seen the points used for just about anything else.

Here's a mage related PVP question, slightly off topic.

I see that some specs have more than 2 points in arcane focus (especially 40/0/21). Is there a reason for this? (other than needing to spend 5 first tier points) As I understand it, the talent gives +spell hit and not +spell penetration. The percent chance to miss a player of equal level is 4%, meaning anything over 2 points is wasted.

Additionally, does anyone have any experience with using arcane blast in arena? It has the same cast time as frost bolt at its slowest and you could even POM into it for a quick ramp-up into burst down.

You're right that you only need 4% hit vs. players but some of us PvE as well That might be the reason you see some PvPers with 3 points in Elemental Precision.

As for the Arcane Blast in Arenas - well, it really depends what brackets you play in. It might be handy in 2v2 or 3v3 but in 5v5 I doubt it's viable due to the sheer mana cost. 5v5 battles can and will sometimes last long, and mana conserving isn't something I think about but you might get problems with AB spam.

And using POM to reduce the casttime of AB is not something I would recommend. POM is there for the extra burst when needed. Another thing worth mentioning is that you tend to move alot in Arenas (atleast I do) and the risk of the AB debuff running out in the meantime is there.

Mainly to have a better chance to hit a CS against players with talents like Unbreakable Will and/or Silence resist items.

E: also sheep heartbeat checks of course =)

According to Thottbot CloS is -90 chance to hit, so yes; +hit gear will penetrate that ability.

Weren't heartbeat checks related to resistances?

I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere on here that there's no way to reduce the effects of the Talisman/silence resist talents.

Also, concerning the season 2 gear:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...No=7&sid=1#120

It seems like everyone was going for the staff in season 1, and the spellblade in season 2. I wonder why that is?

Possibly because the gladiator's endgame was bad, but the merciless gladiator's endgame is pretty good... so the mh/oh combo is worth the points compared to the staff.

What the fuck I didn't post that!!

i also went with the spellblade, though i'm going to forego getting the offhand in favor of picking up two pieces of armor for the double resil. bonus using talisman of nightbane in the meantime. as far as the spellblade vs. staff debate is concerned, it's pretty much a no-brainer since about the only thing you lose is a few hit and a good amount of crit - which i've found is much less valuable than +dmg per item point, especially against high resilience opponents. what you gain is a lot of +dmg and resilience, so it's a worthy tradeoff, even if it costs you more arena points in the long run.

my main focus is 2v2 which i do with a shadow priest so i virtually never get focus-fired first. my thinking is upping my damage output is much more valuable than upping my survivability since the latter only comes in to play after my partner is dead. i do 5v5 as well, though i play that much less lately, but i will eventually have a set for each, one putting me around 10k hp, 450 resil, 850 dmg for 5v5, one with about 9k hp, 300 resil, 950 dmg (and the two piece tier 4 bonus) for 2v2 and 3v3.

edit: oh, also on the +hit/arcane focus - aside from boss dps (assuming you even use arcane spells on them), i don't see any reason to spend points in those talents when you've already hit the 4% cap. as was mentioned, the talents that used to increase resistance to silence/interrupt effects have all been changed to reduce durations instead. since i see most of the arcane tree up to 15 points as a pretty big waste - now more than ever - i've given up 17-0-44 for a full 61 point frost build and am loving it. the only time i really miss having imp CS is against other mages (particularly AP mages) and resto druids.