kannshara

@ Saratoga & Midlandsmage thank you for your input. I'll reinstall Quratz i had it before but was told it didn't work anymore or didn't have any uses anymore. I know i missed a couple of HS, but what i was finding strange is that i can go during a long while without having one, so i tried spamming scorch to try to get some crits going since it is a faster spellcast. But i will look into the timimg thing. Thanks again for the input.

 

Griggsy

It is still quite useful to show your latency on the cast so you can time the queuing of your next spell.

 

Gwendoline

Quartz still work , but you can use the build in "pre-cast" mechanics to achieve the same ( click on you next spell when your curent cast is close to it's end )

Something that may help you is an add-on like Mage Fever, I have it setup so that it put a big red box just above my Pyroblast Icon when i get a proc ( almost impossible to miss a proc after that ).

finally as some hinted you just scorch too much ( very common issue among mages ) You want to get close to a 1 scorch for 7 FFB ( even lower if there is more than 1 mage with imp scorch ), most likely as a start you will have a 1 for 5 or something like that. ( I know 7*3 is only 21 seconds, but you got to account for the GCDs of refreshing LB and the scorch cast time )

 

Duravi

Power Auras and Scorchio2 are two addons I recommend to mages on a regular basis who are having trouble with LB uptime or maximizing their HS procs.

 

Blacknaks

I have tried out arcane and ffb spec and am now trying out fireball spec(18/53). There isnt a thread on that spec specifically like there is with arcane and ffb. I may just be blind and missed it if there is. I wanted to know what the general rotation is for this spec. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

Kelfar

It is exactly the same as FFB, you just cast FB instead of FFB.

The FFB thread is basically the FB thread now since FFB is not going to work in 3.1

 

MaddHawk

Two questions, first what does the acronym TTW stand for? Second what are these 'nerfs' to FFB that I keep seeing everyone refer to? I have not been able to recognize any changes to the mage class that nerfs FFB.

[58:Death]: [Death] has earned the achievement [An Honorable Kill]!
[80:Kyrielle]: Death has begun his assualt!!
[70:Medeoan]: Death has begun to stalk the alliance!!
[58:Death]: **** YEA!!!

 

Gwendoline

TTW : stand for Torment The Weak , it is a way to define the Fire build that only works as a competitive PVE build due to this talent. It is usually a (20/51/0 or 18/53/0 blend ) , Obviously that build is a boss killing build as 12% of its damage rely on someone else slowing the target in some manners.

FFB is somewhat nerfed due to the fact it is a LOT more affected by the lower crit overall that caster will have in 3.1. FFB works base on its Crit coefficient.

-All caster lost 5% crit from scorch Debuf.
-Correctly geared mage likely lost about 0.5% crit from Molten Armor.


Edited : Better info on what affected FFB in 3.1 in the post below.

 

Swindley

FFB was relying on the razorice debuff for a 5% increase in frost damage. I believe the dps increase was about 3.5%. That debuff only works for the DK in 3.1, and that's why FFB is worse off in 3.1 than on Live compared to fireball.

 

Truan

Long time lurker first time poster here (I think?) Anyway..

I just picked up [Faerlina's Madness] as it was a large upgrade at the time and would've been d/e'd. As I'm FFB I know the lack of a meta is a really dumb move, and I'm just curious if I'd be doing better dps with a [Hat of Wintry Doom] gemmed with a CSD+Runed SR? Or even a [Cowl of the Tempest] which was what I upgraded from, which still contains a JC 32sp gem.

The HoWD gain/loss comes down to:

- 46 SP
- 14 Hit
+ CSD

Ignoring sta/int/spi since at the minute they are of little concern.

I guess this question boils down to.. what is CSD worth?

Thanks for any opinions/help.

 

Northerner

I would recommend Rawr for specific gearing questions as the CSD varies depending on spec, gear, set bonuses and such quite a bit. You can find general formula however both in the spec-specific threads here and in the Optimal Set thread in the initial post. A general rule of thumb though is that a meta slot is a rather huge upgrade period.

Capping hit is nice but it is not by any means the only determinant of dps.

 

Sinless

There is a simulation software out there called Rawr which is used to answer questions EXACTLY like the one you asked.

But in order to save you some trouble here is a fun fact: [Gladiator's Silk Cowl] socketed with CSD is a better helm then [Faerlina's Madness] for most cookie cutter specs.

 

Truan

I have Rawr but it seemed to rank faerlina's madness quite high, which I'm presuming is because it took into account that I'm still quite under the hit-cap whereas I was after a neutral, juxtaposed comparison. Also, wow, I spent dkp on what is currently my 7th best helmet.

Thanks for the help!

 

LiquidHAL

Did you check all applicable buffs in rawr? By default it'll value anything with mana regen very high because you won't have replenish, blessing of wisdom, mana spring totem, etc. turned on.

 

TigaFin

[Titan-Forged Hood of Dominance] is probably what mages who are just starting to raid should go for. It's very easy to get and better DPS than many 25 man Naxxramas items. It only becomes a problem once you need to drop some hit somewhere.

 

Pyrates

A question for arcane mages: How many Missile Barrage procs do you lose over the course of a fight? I just noticed that on patchwerk yesterday I had 17 procs, but just shot of 12 AM's, and I'm fairly sure that I use AM everytime there's a MB proc and I have 3 stacks of AB. Seems like an awful lot to me

(e) I just saw that the combat log records refreshes as such. I did indeed lose 5 procs do to the buff being refreshed, too bad, but probably nothing I can do about... Is that a usual number or is that unlucky? Because I'm somewhat disapointed with my dps and I'm looking out for reasons.

 

Sinless

It is a usual number since most of the time you are ramping up your AB stack before casting MBAM which means new MBAMs can proc and be ignored in the process.

 

Imagedyou

Is arcane going to be inferior to fireball come 3.1? I've heard a few things, just looking for some confirms in this area.

 

Sinless

They are within such a small % of each other, the ball is still out on that one. Fight duration, mechanics, will all play an important role once the patch gets released.

 

Wenchery

I've been searching for information on the mechanics of the living bomb glyph post 3.1

To this point I've found the blue statement that it would not proc ignite on the DoT ticks (thank god), nor will it help trigger Hot Streak.

However:

1) Is it affected by World in Flames?
2) Is it affected by Burnout? (If my LB ticks for 1000 will it crit for 1500 or 1750?)
3) If the answer to (2) is "yes," does it drain me 5% of the spell each time it crits? One would think that would only apply to the actual spell component (the explosion) seeing how only that can proc ignite and hot streak, but you never know with Blizzard, do you...

 

Averiel

I believe Upcoming Mage Changes in 3.1 may have some answers to your questions...since after all, it discusses 3.1 changes.

 

Necroon

Hello Guys, i am not the greatest Theorycrafter or especially good at calculating these things, so i wondered if anyone had some info on the 'Potion of Wild Magic'(200sp&200crit rating) Versus 'Potion of Speed'(500 Haste)

Would like to know which potion i do benefit most from with a TTW Fire Spec, if anyone could assist me in calculating or already had some info on the subject

 

odyz

In the optimal gear thread, given BiS gear (I can't armory you at the moment sorry) then Potion of Wild Magic is only a 0.54 DPS increase over Potion of Speed.

Conversly with BiS for FFB, Potion of Wild Magic is ~2.16 dps increase over Potion of Speed.

To test this for your gear I would recommend downloading rawr, run the optimizer and make sure.

 

diag

Is there any tricks to manage mana as arcane? Clearcasting and MBAM procs can make a huge difference in my mana pool, e.g. my mana can vary by 7k at 1min into the fight. I always find myself using 1AB 1AM because I run out of mana. For more solid questions,

1) At which point do you start conserving mana?
2) When do you use mana pot instead of haste pot?
3) How do you use the first mana gem?
4) How much mana do you save for IV+AP+heroism?

 

Shaewyn

I find that I only really need to drop down to a lower MPS rotation when I lose part/most of an evocation. That being said, here are a couple answers for you:

1) I don't start using a more efficient rotation until I see a potential problem. AB3AM is sustainable for 5+ minutes on a stand-and-deliver type fight if I have Gems/Evo/Mana Pot, and don't screw up. Mana conservation is for when things go in the crapper: for example, I'll switch to AB-AM if I get MC'd and Mana-Bombed on Kel'thuzad and get down to 2 or 3k mana with evocation a minute away. AB-AM, with replenishment/JoW is darned close to indefinitely sustainable.
2) I don't use haste pots as Arcane. On any fight that matters (Sarth+3), I find I need the mana more than the haste. On any fight I don't need the mana, the fight is not hard enough to bother using the Speed Pot. Ulduar may change this.
3) We tend to use heroism early in a fight, so what I usually do is wait until I'm down to about 75% mana, then use a gem/AP/IV/MI/etc. This way, I get full mana return without wasting any, but have the 2t7 bonus stacked with all the other cooldowns. After that, chain mana gems as available or as the fight dictates. Save mana pots for when you would run out before an evocation/gem is back up.
4) IV/AP/heroism depends entirely on the fight. I find that AB3AM (highest DPS for me per rawr) during IV/AP/Heroism will use 60-70% of my Mana, more or less depending on how much ABspam3MBAM I use.

Part of the fun of arcane is figuring some of this out for yourself and working out when/how to use a lower DPS/higher DPM rotation