Mage: Simple Questions/Simple Answers - Page 99

manly · 04/15/09, 1:15 PM

first post ffb or arcane thread.

hypetech · 04/15/09, 4:29 PM

Originally Posted by cbags

This may sound stupid...but did they remove the huge blue ground animation for blizzard? I didn't make any graphic changes after the patch

We noticed the same thing last night, so I believe they did.

opmike18 · 04/15/09, 5:10 PM

FYI, Winter's Chill and Improved Scorch still do not stack!

hypetech · 04/15/09, 5:37 PM

Originally Posted by opmike18

FYI, Winter's Chill and Improved Scorch still do not stack!

They are not intended to stack. Imp Scorch, Winter's Chill, and the new shadowbolt debuff are all non-stacking 5% crit.

Querk · 04/15/09, 5:47 PM

I've failed with the search function on this one because I'm not thinking of good enough key words I guess, but basically, does anyone have an opinion on the best trash-killing spec?

I don't care about pvp atm, so main spec will be a traditional single-target hit-capped boss spec. But for speed runs through Naxx and such, it seems the most logical raid-benefit goal for my second spec is to be optomized for non-boss, non-single target scenarios.

I'm currently thinking a 51pt. arcane spec with some shatter and imp. blizzard, focussed on IV/AP blizzard usage. I realize LB/blastwave/instant flame strike/Dragon's breath/instant flame strike would probably be pretty ridiculous, but melee range aggro ceilings make me nervous. Also, I'm not actually sure it'd be an overall dps upgrade because of the extra moving time and because of inflated IV/AP uptimes from series of short fights. Any holes in that logic?

LiquidHAL · 04/15/09, 7:37 PM

Originally Posted by hypetech

We noticed the same thing last night, so I believe they did.

They also changed the animation. If you blizzard with no targets under it, the snow missiles go straight down, but when targets are hit by them they rain down at various angles.

kycan · 04/15/09, 9:43 PM

Originally Posted by nisaea

Simple question: Frostbolt and TTW: does the first frostbolt on a fresh target get the 12% bonus from TTW, or only the subsequent ones?

Only subsequent ones.

SaladFork · 04/15/09, 9:46 PM

Has anyone had any luck obtaining a Glyph of Living Bomb on their server? As far as I can tell, only 2 inscribers on my server have even gotten [Book of Glyph Mastery], and both are charging a few hundred gold for their glyphs (neither of which is Living Bomb).

manly · 04/16/09, 2:06 AM

The books of glyph mastery dont require the looter to be a scribe. As such, theyre just like a random world drops (from high lvl mobs). So you can buy them off the AH. Eventually people will have all patterns.

Ezu · 04/16/09, 2:15 AM

So why are we getting huge amounts of partial resists now in 3.1, eg: I got 20,000 damage partially resisted just from my fireballs on a razorscale kill last night.

Yeah don't remember getting anywhere near this amount when being hit capped throughout all of Wrath, did they mess something up or did they just give bosses higher resists now.

This reminds me of TBC where you'd get RNG'd like made with partials even when fully hit capped, I thought Wrath fixed this?

Seeth · 04/16/09, 4:33 AM

1) I've noticed many FB/ToTW builds don't pickup Blast Wave, Dragon's Breath or the instant Flamestrike talent. With that in mind, what is your rotation on AoE trash? Chain-cast Blizzard? Chain-cast Arcane Explosion?

2) What class/talent-specs can provide the 5% crit debuff? Scorch Mages, Winter's Chill Mages, Afflic or Destruction Warlocks? Am I missing any? I'm trying to decide if to use the Scorch glyph or not.

Thanks!

Northerner · 04/16/09, 8:10 AM

1) AEing trash is typically either straight Blizzard (low HP trash) or Flamestrike, downranked Flamestrike, Blizzard.
2) Scorch (talented), Winter's Chill, or Improved Shadowbolt (available to many warlock builds but skipped by fire typically).

Aethon · 04/16/09, 8:32 AM

Originally Posted by Seeth

1) I've noticed many FB/ToTW builds don't pickup Blast Wave, Dragon's Breath or the instant Flamestrike talent. With that in mind, what is your rotation on AoE trash? Chain-cast Blizzard? Chain-cast Arcane Explosion?

2) What class/talent-specs can provide the 5% crit debuff? Scorch Mages, Winter's Chill Mages, Afflic or Destruction Warlocks? Am I missing any? I'm trying to decide if to use the Scorch glyph or not.

Thanks!

Even if you have Blast Wave, I'd be extremely cautious using it unglyphed, and wouldn't suggest it even with the glyph for a couple reasons:

1. Unglyphed, you still have the knockback, potentially annoying the hell out of all AoE'ing melee and any DK/pally tanks (DnD, Consecration)

2. Even glyphed, you're a ranged class, just stay ranged and use your max rank Flamestrike, downranked Flamestrike and Blizzard, then repeat.

If you have a problem with mobs running up to you, Frost nova is a better choice, as it's a root effect allowing a pally to throw down a Consecration or DK to use Death and Decay and pick up agro.

Korey · 04/16/09, 9:10 AM

It's been a while since I've been FFB, but I plan to for this weekend's first Ulduar raid. Have a few questions I'm hoping to clarify about Hot Streak:

1) From the 3.1 Mage Compendium

Hot Streak
This talent works like a counter that counts how many critical strikes with the listed spells you have just had in a row.
When it reaches 2, the counter resets and you gain the Hot Streak buff for one instant Pyroblast.
With Living Bomb, it triggers if you have two criticals in a row in the order of your combat log.

The counter continues to count anew even if you haven't cast your Pyroblast yet.
You're not going to lose charges to double crits just because you cannot react on your most recent spell.

I'm not sure what this is saying. Previously, you'd waste crits for potential future Hot Streaks if you haven't yet consumed a current Hot Streak proc. Is this no longer the case?

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2) From this post:

Originally Posted by nathanbp

Why would you ever delay your Hot Streak in order to cast another FFB? All you're doing is setting yourself up to lose a proc if Living Bomb explodes.

Why would you lose a proc if LB explodes? I've also heard of problems with LB and consuming Combustion charges too...

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3) Is it still the best practice to scorch or FFB before using a Hot Streak proc to avoid Ignite munching (or other reasons)? Or are there reasons to use it immediately?

Thanks in advance. I tried looking up all these things by searching "Hot Streak" but as you can imagine there are tons of results and I just got more confused the more I read.

lgtcount · 04/16/09, 9:36 AM

Originally Posted by Aethon

Even if you have Blast Wave, I'd be extremely cautious using it unglyphed, and wouldn't suggest it even with the glyph for a couple reasons:

1. Unglyphed, you still have the knockback, potentially annoying the hell out of all AoE'ing melee and any DK/pally tanks (DnD, Consecration)

2. Even glyphed, you're a ranged class, just stay ranged and use your max rank Flamestrike, downranked Flamestrike and Blizzard, then repeat.

If you have a problem with mobs running up to you, Frost nova is a better choice, as it's a root effect allowing a pally to throw down a Consecration or DK to use Death and Decay and pick up agro.

What's the reason for downranked Flamestrike? I've been doing Max Rank Flamestrike followed by blizzards till dot wears off, then repeat. Guess I've been doing it wrong?