The arcane hit cap is 76 unless you plan to save 2 points on Arcane Focus, then it's 126 (eg. if you want to get hit capped Frostbolts at the same time).
Check your gear in Rawr or Magegraf and see what numbers you can expect with which spec, on the top of my head I'd say stick with Arcane as you already have 2pc T5, without shadow priest you'll probably get a performance similar to fire with IV and noticeably higher if you can get a shadow priest in your group.
Rawr/Magegraf will also point you in the right direction for your gems, but do not, EVER, gem or enchant for crit, it's just not worth it point by point.
Everyone always coming to Zathras with problems. Great responsibilities. But Zathras does not mind. Zathras trained in crisis management.
I played arcane for the past 6 months after getting my 2nd piece of T5. I had it pretty much down and was kicking ass. A week ago I found myself with 4 pieces of T6 all of a sudden. So I respecced to fire (I went from cookie cutter 40/0/21 to cookie cutter 2/48/11). Now I'm not kicking ass so much. Is fire really THAT much better with 4 pieces of Tier 6? If it's supposed to be so great why did my damage suffer so much? I used to be in the top 3 on WWS parses for raids (another arcane mage was generally no. 1), now I'm lucky if I'm in the top 10 (that same other arcane mage is still no. 1 with two pieces of T5&T6). I realize that skill is a factor and I tend to have a pretty big learning curve when I have to change my playstyle this drammatically, but fire is a LOT less complicated to manage than arcane so you would think I'd notice an improvement sooner than I have. I do occasionally see myself at the top of the damage meter, but it's difficult to sustain without yanking aggro.
I just payed for another respec. I switched to frost for Illidan so was about to switch back to fire, but haven't spent any talent points yet because I'm seriously considering switching back to arcane instead. I'm only hesitating now because that would require spending another crapload of cash to regem all my gear again (and I'd feel really dumb going back to the guild officers begging for gems again a week later). It's not that I can't afford new gems. I just want to make sure it'll be worth it if I do it.
So, what's the scoop on speccing/playing arcane with four pieces of Tier 6 gear? I've seen a few posts that suggest that it's feasible, but I haven't come across any that go into detail.
I guess another question I have is where should my dps be with this gear and spec? I would expect it to be higher than 2 pieces of T5 specced as arcane. If it's not then why did I put away my tier 5 in the first place?
You used Arcane Blast 19 times on Mother? Just glancing at these parses, it seems like you're not casting nearly enough Fireballs and you're overcasting Scorch.
I used Arcane Blast during the nature aura. It just seemed like the thing to do. I also used Frostbolt during the Fire aura. I actually don't cast Scorch even half as often as the other fire mage in the group but he died early in the fight so I was the only one keeping the debuff up. I don't dispute that I probably need to work on polishing my casting cycle, but I don't see how that alone could account for the drop in my damage. Is there any reason not to spec as arcane with this gear? What is it that makes fire the superior spec?
Check the individual boss fights, rather than trash. Arcane has a huge advantage on trash in that you can drink between each small pull and just spam arcane blast. On the bosses (where DPS actually matters) you beat yourself on everything you gave a parse for as fire except in Essence of Suffering.
Also, I think you just need more time playing a fire mage; you've got the right spec in my opinion, just keep at it. The ratio of scorch/fireball on Teron Gorefiend is under 5:1, and it should be quite easy to get 7:1 on that fight, assuming you cast a scorch earlier than normal to avoid pushback causing your stack to fall off.
I haven't raided since T5/early T6 progression, and after spending the last half year pvping on my mage i want to finish t5/t6 content before WOTLK. I quit PVE in deep ssc/tk progression (kael attempts) and like a retard vendored all of my gear (prior to knowing about gm restore, and i quit for about 3-4 months so it was too late anyhoo).
Now I'm attempting to get back into pve and have found a guild that is (roughly) in the same place that I left off. Problem now however is that im working with primarily pvp gear and some of the gear that i still have that i either forgot or couldnt vendor (spellstrike pants/t4 shoulders namely). My basic question is, without t5 2set bonus, would it be most beneficial to spec arcane for the 10% free hit, giving me int gem space, or would fire still push over it regardless of having to go out of my way for spellhit?
Also, I think you just need more time playing a fire mage; you've got the right spec in my opinion, just keep at it.
This.
I leveled to 70 as full arcane. I raided for a good while as arcane, doing quite well. I decided to respec when I got 4 pieces of T6 because the gear and set bonus seemed to suggest I do that, and after I adjusted to the change, my DPS improved. The fact is, arcane is a completely different way to play a mage than frost or fire. It's you versus your mana bar rather than your threat meter, you worry about your own AB debuff, not keeping a debuff on your mob. You have to learn how to plant your ass in one spot. Fire is a huge change from arcane.
I suggest downloading Scorchio and featuring it prominently in your UI. The more aware you are of the boss's scorch situation, the more efficient you'll be at keeping it up. Stack all your cooldowns with IV and make sure you don't need to recast scorch while it's all up. Practice makes perfect, and numbers don't lie. Fire is better with the gear you have, you just have to make it work
I leveled to 70 as full arcane. I raided for a good while as arcane, doing quite well. I decided to respec when I got 4 pieces of T6 because the gear and set bonus seemed to suggest I do that, and after I adjusted to the change, my DPS improved. The fact is, arcane is a completely different way to play a mage than frost or fire. It's you versus your mana bar rather than your threat meter, you worry about your own AB debuff, not keeping a debuff on your mob. You have to learn how to plant your ass in one spot. Fire is a huge change from arcane.
I suggest downloading Scorchio and featuring it prominently in your UI. The more aware you are of the boss's scorch situation, the more efficient you'll be at keeping it up. Stack all your cooldowns with IV and make sure you don't need to recast scorch while it's all up. Practice makes perfect, and numbers don't lie. Fire is better with the gear you have, you just have to make it work
Yeah, I kinda figured I just need to relax a little and get used to it. I was back up at the top of the dps when we cleared Hyjal last night (except for the warlocks who actually beat me on aoe damage - that's new to me but I'll get used to it). I'm kindof struggling a bit with the cooldowns though. I have a macro with everything on it, but haven't gotten into a good routine for using them yet since I'm a little preoccupied with watching my Scorch timer (I do have Scorchio at least, which helps). I tried combining the macro with my scorch casts, but the /stopcasting lines mess me up (I tend to spam the button until I see the next cast start) so I think I just need to stick it on a different hotkey.
For non-instant spells, /stopcasting can really interfere with proper chaincasting.
/stopcasting is good in something like a sheep macro, where you need to drop what you're doing to do crowd control, but your blowcooldowns macro wants to be something you can mix smoothly into a scorch/fireball rotation where you're clicking just before the spellcasting ends to minimize latency and take advantage of server side queing.
Typically the way to do that is make the last command in the blowcooldowns macro be /cast fireball
If for some reason you want to blow cooldowns without doing a fireball (eg, prior to AOE spam), just be in motion when you click it and the fireball will be skipped.
I read through several Mage threads on this forum but haven't found any info on this: What is the optimal cooldown stacking choice for maximising Brutallus DPS? I use 2/48/11 Fire spec and two macros, as follows:
Macro 1 activates:
flame cap
combustion
hex shrunken head
Macro 2 activates:
destro pot
icy veins
skull of gul'dan
I use macro 1 shortly after the first tank switch happens, then I use macro 2 when the Hex trinket effect wears off and the Skull trinket becomes usable. I've had decent results, often finishing the fight with about 2200-2300 DPS, but I'd like to know if there is a better way of optimising these cooldowns or perhaps a recommended 'unified' macro?
I use macro 1 shortly after the first tank switch happens, then I use macro 2 when the Hex trinket effect wears off and the Skull trinket becomes usable. I've had decent results, often finishing the fight with about 2200-2300 DPS, but I'd like to know if there is a better way of optimising these cooldowns or perhaps a recommended 'unified' macro?
Well since Icy Veins only stacks with spell damage, you can improve your double macro by moving it to your first macro (since [Hex Shrunken Head] offers more spell damage (& for the full 20sec of IV, rather than 15) than [Destruction Potion]).
Then since [Destruction Potion] stacks with haste, and Icy Veins offers more haste than [The Skull of Gul'dan], you should move it to your first macro too.
Which basically means: Pop everything but skull, wait for the skull to come up & use that too (which will still overlap with the [Flame Cap] you used to begin with)
No Dblaikie you are wrong. Best way to use your trinkets is popping skull + IV + flamecap + destropot (+ bloodlust) and then use after that your 2nd macro with hsh/m'uru trinket + combustion.
Well since Icy Veins only stacks with spell damage
Incorrect. As Manly and others have stated, Combustion only stacks with spell damage, because it will increase your crit damage. Haste does not increase crit damage, so never combine [The Skull of Gul'dan] with Combustion.
Praetorian: I once pointed out that the proper Roman numeral for 500 was D, so they should really rename themselves <Clan DIX>. That didn't go over too well. Sebudai: Imagine a combination of Life Grip, Death Grip, Disengage, Typhoon, and Thunderstorm. It would be like the Large Hadron Collider of WoW.
Well since Icy Veins only stacks with spell damage, you can improve your double macro by moving it to your first macro (since [Hex Shrunken Head] offers more spell damage (& for the full 20sec of IV, rather than 15) than [Destruction Potion]).
Then since [Destruction Potion] stacks with haste, and Icy Veins offers more haste than [The Skull of Gul'dan], you should move it to your first macro too.
Which basically means: Pop everything but skull, wait for the skull to come up & use that too (which will still overlap with the [Flame Cap] you used to begin with)
try somethin like this.... man.. i need the skull..
spam away!
/use Flame Cap
/use Hex Shrunken Head
/cast Icy Veins
/use Destruction Potion
/cast Fireball
/script UIErrorsFrame: Clear()
/use The Skull of Gul'Dan
/cast Fireball
/script UIErrorsFrame: Clear()
/use Flame Cap
/cast Combustion
/cast Fireball
/script UIErrorsFrame: Clear()
When I said that, it applied to hex/skull. But if you have the muru trinket you want to simply stack everything, and leave a lone skull at the end not stacking with anything else.
<Eej> YOU"RE GONNA PULL
<Eej> IF YOU SQUEEZE OFF ANOTHER ARCANE BLAST
<Spectear> You've obviously never played with Manly.
<Spectear> That's hardly a reason to stop DPS. Very Manly Staff
My guild is currently working on Brutallus and I have been thinking how much would improved molten armor increse my dps? Can meteor slash or burn be affected by reflect? If a mage will be hit by meteor slash or burn will improved molten armor apply dmg to brutallus? If u could gieve some numbers of how much improved molten armor would increase dps of single mage it would be great.
On a side note I m 2/48/11 and Arcane subtlety is useless for brutalus and we usually take 2-4 fire mage for brutallus.
Ok guys I know you don't like to have too many help me questions in one post but I have been reading all these posts as much as I can this morning. I have noticed that some of you are saying that a good AM spec mixed with ashtounge exaulted trinket and a MSD socketed can be a very strong DPS spec. I currently have been playing as 40/0/21 and have been topping our damage charts on almost every raid, but I am getting to the point where using 2 piece t5 seems like its gimping me. I just want to know if AM spec is still a very strong spec with these two things or if I should just stay as 40/0/21 until I get my 4 piece t6.Would really appreciate it if someone could give me some numbers on these specs.
My guild is currently working on Brutallus and I have been thinking how much would improved molten armor increse my dps? Can meteor slash or burn be affected by reflect? If a mage will be hit by meteor slash or burn will improved molten armor apply dmg to brutallus? If u could gieve some numbers of how much improved molten armor would increase dps of single mage it would be great.
On a side note I m 2/48/11 and Arcane subtlety is useless for brutalus and we usually take 2-4 fire mage for brutallus.
Imp. Molten adds ~2k damage on Brutallus usually, or ~5 DPS. It is a better DPS talent than Incineration, but still equally worthless.
Using your [Commander's Badge] before the pull does more to your damage.
I have noticed that some of you are saying that a good AM spec mixed with ashtounge exaulted trinket and a MSD socketed can be a very strong DPS spec. I am getting to the point where using 2 piece t5 seems like its gimping me. I just want to know if AM spec is still a very strong spec with these two things or if I should just stay as 40/0/21 until I get my 4 piece t6.Would really appreciate it if someone could give me some numbers on these specs.
As Zinaida says: AM spam is dead. Some numbers...
2T5 gives +20% for your main nuke as 40/0/21 or 50/0/11
4T6 gives +5% for your secondary spell as 40/0/21 or 50/0/11
Currently my gear is sub-standard as you can see here
I've been 70 about 2 weeks but I'm a long time huntard theorycrafter. In the pug runs I've been squeezed into lately, I've felt like my mana longevity was just too terrible as 2/48/11, so I switched to 10/48/3 to nab clearcasting (which I know is a dps decrease). I was wondering if this was actually a good idea or if it is ever a good idea at any gear level. If not, then I can switch back to the standard 2/48/11 but just wanted to doublecheck what others thought.
08/02/08, 9:07 AM
