T4t3r

If you are over hit cap (I'm currently at 15.5% or so from gear), is the only solution to just get different gear? I've been almost looked down on from some other players because of my large amount of hit. It just seems a little ridiculous to not roll on something (ie., I got the hit robes from TOC25 a couple weeks ago, they are contributing >3% of my hit from gear) that is an obvious upgrade just because it has hit. I understand it's possible that there is a better option than that upgrade but at my guild's progression level, I won't see those options any time soon.

 

Gasillio

You could take the three points out of Arcane Focus. The arcane tree is extremely bloated, I'm sure you could find a spot for those three points. Or, you could take a point or two out of precision and place it else where in the Frost tree (better Blizzard??)

 

ash2ash

That's a good general rule of thumb, but this changes based on fight mechanics which favor blowing cooldowns when you get damage boosting buffs and/or require burst-or-wipe phases.

Examples:
-Icehowl stun
-Jaraxxus nether power / nether portal / infernal volcanoes (last two on heroic)
-Twin Valkyr Empowered _______ / Shield of ________

After one or two kills, you should have an idea of when you can afford to blow cooldowns and at which point you should start worrying about saving them - It's hard to say outside of what you experience since raid dps is going to play a factor. Really, aside from Anub HM, there aren't any absolute dps races in the current progression tier, though I'm 99.9% sure that they will include a patchwerk-esque dps check in Icecrown (albeit with some fires you don't want to stand in).

Ghostcrawler - "I'm the asshole that nerfed your class" - Blizzcon 2009

 

Easton

Nvm this post

 

Docmdnite

I have all my CD's macroed for the initial use, then I use them as they become available. I like to set up my initial use by PoM'ing my second AB, that allows for GCD on AP and then pop the macro for my 4th AB cast. After that PoM, I reserve its use for momement. Or on fights I don't worry about moving, to have something else to "pop".

 

Sh4d0wfury

One mage of my guild has read something about blast wave interrupting casts on the Nerubian Burrowers in Anub'arak's hard mode, using the glyph to not knockback the mobs. Me and some fellow guildies (including the mage) were highly suspiscious about it, but we want to be sure if this happens or not before we waste a try testing it. If it is not true, is there any specific talent a mage can spec for Anub to improve his performace/utility, i.e. Dragon's Breath?
I don't know alot about mages, so excuse me for my ignorance in this matter.

 

epoh

Some reading would have answered your question. The tooltip for Blast Wave reads "A wave of flame radiates outward from the caster, damaging all enemies caught within the blast for 1047 to 1233 Fire damage, knocking them back and Dazing them for 6 sec." The glyph does two things, lowers the mana cost and removes the knock back. No where does it mention removing the daze effect.

 

kozzus

isnt daze just a movement slower rather than an actual stun?

 

Pasture

It's a nice idea but taking three points out of Arcane Focus doesn't actually open up tree bloat. You have to put those three points into 3/5 Stability in order to spend five points in the first tier so there isn't much in the way of choice. From a TOC perspective I'd rather have the 3% mana reduction from 3/3 Arcane Focus than the pushback protection from 3/5 Arcane stability given the instances of pushback are few and far between.

Even over cap I'd rather max out Focus.

 

WesM63

I'm still new to the arcane tree and have a few questions.

1.) I currently use Molten Armor, should I? Or should I be using Mage Armor?

2.) After soft hit cap, I should be stacking SP and Haste correct? Not crit like I have been. (Currently, 28% crit)

Sorry if these have been answered, i couldn't find the exact answer I was after.

BTW,
57/3/11 - 2pT8.25

 

Gasillio

Correct, unless you are having MAJOR mana concerns. Molten (glyphed) is generally better.
Yep, Spell Power/Haste are the next best things.

 

dualaud

Discussion is going on in our guild, and no one can come up with solid numbers or even good reasons concerning choice of whom to buff with 'Focus Magic'. They either want it for pure ego dps reasons or just state something along the lines of: "it is better for class X, and therefore it is better for class X, and bad for class Y".
In danger of beating a dead horse, I (not being a mage) would like to know who you buff with Focus Magic and for what reasons.

I found a priority list on the internet which says:
Source: mmo-champion

But this could be complete bull, as far as I'm concerned. I don't want to discuss mmo as a source. This is just a shot in the dark, for I have no idea.


Would you agree with the list? Would a holy paladin be high priority? Would 4 arcane mages 'ring buffing' themselves with it be a good idea?
Why are destro locks at the lower end of the priority list, sharing their spot with elemental shamans?

For what it is worth, rip the mmo list apart. I'd very much appreciate some input from a person who knows what he is saying.

Thank you very much.

 

semata

Even if you have crippling mana problems, you're still going to do more damage by using Molten Armour than what little mana Mage Armour gives. Just switch to a less mana intensive rotation.

With free MBAMs and reduced AB stack costs, mana is really much less of a concern than it has ever been.

 

Wizeowel

Take a look at SampleOutputT9 - simulationcraft - Project Hosting on Google Code and scroll down to DPS Scale Factors (dps increase per unit stat). Locate the 'Crit' column and read downwards. This shows the relative value of crit between classes.

Class	Spec	Crit scale factor
Mage_T9_00_53_18	Frostfire	1.90
Mage_T9_20_51_00	Fire	1.75
Druid_T9_58_00_13	Moonkin	1.51
Priest_T9_13_00_58	Shadow	1.43
Shaman_T9_57_14_00	Elemental	1.35
Mage_T9_57_03_11	Arcane	1.15
Warlock_T9_53_00_18	Affliction	1.12
Warlock_T9_00_56_15	Demo	1.10
Warlock_T9_00_13_58	Destro	1.04
Mage_T9_18_00_53	Frost	0.75

It's also a function of how much dps a player does. If your hybrids are doing 6kdps and your arcane mages are doing 8kdps, then clearly an arcane mage circle-jerk is better rDps than giving one FM each to the so-called support classes. Your mileage may vary.

 

Shaitans

Why would this be the case? In terms of overall raid DPS, wouldn't a class that crits more often and has a higher crit relative value benefit the raid moreso than an arcane mage?

 

Geglash

If they do the same baseline dps before counting FM, then yes. But that simply isn't true in the theorycrafting case and in real world cases it will vary widely depending on the actual players, boss fights and tactics used. Sample the dps for different boss fights in your guild and using the crit multipliers presented just calculate the gain for different people. For example, in my guild the mages and hunters are the rock star dpsers, our warlocks underperform and our shadow priests are undergeared. This has us using FM on mages (especially considering the mechanics on Jaraxus and Twins) other then on FC where mages most of the time are involved in crowd control.

edit: Just a quick example, a 3% damage increase for a player doing 9000 dps (270 dps gain) is greater then a 4% damage gain for a player doing 6000 dps (240 dps gain).

 

Roywyn

It's still not as easy to draw conclusions. From those numbers, a good Arcane Mage may beat a bad Elemental Shaman, but he probably won't beat a bad Moonkin. The Mage would have to play more than 30% better than the Moonkin for that.

Something really important to consider are set bonuses. Don't just blindly copy the SimCraft values. For Elemental Shaman, T8 set bonus mechanics inflated crit scaling (Patch 3.2.2 consolidated it because one set bonus became a Glyph). Similar things happened with Moonkin by enabling DoT critting in one tier (inflate crit), but removing it and improving DoT scaling (deflate crit twice) in the next tier. I actually mixed up some tiers and patches when writing this, so the bottom line is to always check which tier you're in, which set bonuses change scaling.

The Blue Bar and you - the complete Fire Mage 2.4 mana compendium: http://elitistjerks.com/658230-post3191.html

DPS spec and class comparison in Naxxramas gear: http://code.google.com/p/simulationc...i/SampleOutput

And [Timbal's Focusing Crystal] doesn't proc on AM.
Neither does [The Egg of Mortal Essence] since 3.1.

 

Annekynn

For FFB specs, is haste really better than crit? Ive looked around for the answer and ive found an equal number saying one or the other. I have 450 haste and have well over 50% raid buffed crit at this time.

 

lgtcount

If you would take even a minute to search the forums, you would find the answer to this. The fact is that a stat's dps, such as SP, Crit, and Haste, all differ depending on not only spec, but also gear. There is no clear cut "stack this stat until (insert number cap)".

Your best option would be to use rawr and check the relative stat values to compare them for yourself.

 

Zedicuss

I am looking for the best buid for a frost mage pvp spec. A post or link to the armory would be perfect. Thanks.

 

Gasillio

The top arena frost mages currently are Pookz in 3v3/5v5 and Flýn in 2v2.

You can see their armories by clicking on the links. Basically the same build with a few shuffled points.

 

andrewgr

I see many mentions of how necessary Quartz is, but I can't find a "how to" guide for it.

Let's say I'm spamming AB. If I hit the AB button as soon as GCD is up, isn't that as good as it gets? How can waiting even longer for the Quartz timer to show the latency help?

I see some old references to using Quartz in concert with "/stopcasting" macros, but then I find more recent posts saying that's no longer necessary.

Can someone give me a concrete example of some sequence of events in which using Quartz helps?

Thanks in advance!

 

Pasture

If you're casting AB, most the bar will be green (assuming you have reasonably low latency) and the latter part of Quartz will be red. You should start casting your next AB when the bar moves to the red section. The impression you're giving is that you just mash your AB key, which is bad, or you hit your AB key once the global cooldown is done, which is also bad since unless you're under extreme levels of haste you're hitting it way too soon for a 2.5 second cast and the spell won't fly.

Either way, you should be starting to cast your next spell as the Quartz bar moves to the red section (as close to the start of the red section as possible). Spamming your keys is going to cause you problems with spells like Arcane Missiles which can be interupted by casting other spells.

 

Feylna

Quartz is best for use in conjunction with AM. If you start spamming AB again after the GCD completes for AM, you're going to clip part of your AM. With Quartz you can start spamming AB again as soon as your AM channel reaches the "red zone", thus causing the AB to be cast as soon following the AM as possible.

Just a tidbit, Pitbull4 also includes a latency zone in its unit-frame cast bar.