No Number Crunching!
Not huge news from the Cataclysm front. A new build is on the horizon which seems to only include some class changes right now. Here are the ones for the mage:
Mage (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Arcane
Fire
Frost
Here is a tiny bit of QQ though. What's up with this Ring of Frost crap? Why the change from Curtain? Test out to be too much for the kiddies in Beta PvP or was it too much free DPS. Pretty sure Curtain was an insta-cast spell but now RIng of Frost has a 3 second channeled cast time to get it to coalesce? Guessing that's how it works. In a couple of TB's vids I saw him drop it on packs so maybe they just didn't want it as an extra AOE. I don't know. I'm just guessing here, and mostly I'm concerned about fire anyway.
It does seem that Blizzard has a hardon for Frostfire though. 20% for it and 17% for everything else? Yikes.
I have one thing to confess. I can't stand number crunching and theory crafting! My philosophy is for other people to do it and I'll just mooch off their efforts. Seems like a fair deal to be honest. Let people who like to theory craft and test out all the numbers and percentages and which spec gets the most DPS, and I'll gladly listen to their expertise. That and that I've never really played a serious mage before so I'm kind of in alien territory.
So, for now, I have no idea what the optimal spec is for Fire PvE. I get that there are certain essentials, but there are a few choices that need to be made as well. Right now, here's my main PvE spec idea. Feedback always welcome.
My main concern is that there aren't enough points in Tier 3 and 4 for the Fire Tree, due to Cauterize and Molten Shields seem like dumb choices for PvE. So you have to go back and take something from 1 or 2. Right now I'm putting points into Fire Power, which seems like a useful talent but one that can be skipped. Two points that could be used elsewhere. Improved Flamestrike? Molten Fury? Pyromaniac? Critical Mass? They all seem like they could be golden brown cheddary damage goodness, but taking them all is expensive and these plus Fire Power leave me with 33 points in the fire tree and few to go into the other trees. A shame because I heard that Invocation in Arcane tree is also golden brown cheddary damage goodness for those who know how to properly counterspell, which any good mage should do when needed.
Any help here would be appreciated.
I'll cross post these comments to MMO Champion mage forums and hopefully someone will bite.
Mage (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Arcane
- Ritual of Refreshment now costs 27% of base mana, down from 80% of base mana.
- Arcane Explosion now costs 18% of base mana, down from 22% of base mana.
- Arcane Blast base damage increased by 17%, now costs 8% of base mana, up from 7% of base mana.
- Arcane Barrage base damage increased by 17%.
- Arcane Missiles base damage increased by 17%.
Fire
- Frostfire Bolt base damage increased by 20%.
- Living Bomb base damage increased by 12%.
- Pyroblast base damage increased by 12%.
- Fireball base damage increased by 12%.
Frost
- Curtain of Frost is now named Ring of Frost and has been revamped - Summons a Ring of Frost, taking 3 sec to coalesce. Enemies entering the fully-formed ring will become frozen for 10 sec. Lasts 12 sec. 10 yd radius. 7% of base mana, 30 yd range, Channeled, 3 min cooldown
- Ice Lance base damage increased by 20%.
- Frostbolt base damage increased by 20%.
- Deep Freeze base damage increased by 20%.
- Early Frost now reduces the cast time of Frostbolt by 0.35/0.7 secs, up from 0.25/0.5 secs.
Here is a tiny bit of QQ though. What's up with this Ring of Frost crap? Why the change from Curtain? Test out to be too much for the kiddies in Beta PvP or was it too much free DPS. Pretty sure Curtain was an insta-cast spell but now RIng of Frost has a 3 second channeled cast time to get it to coalesce? Guessing that's how it works. In a couple of TB's vids I saw him drop it on packs so maybe they just didn't want it as an extra AOE. I don't know. I'm just guessing here, and mostly I'm concerned about fire anyway.
It does seem that Blizzard has a hardon for Frostfire though. 20% for it and 17% for everything else? Yikes.
I have one thing to confess. I can't stand number crunching and theory crafting! My philosophy is for other people to do it and I'll just mooch off their efforts. Seems like a fair deal to be honest. Let people who like to theory craft and test out all the numbers and percentages and which spec gets the most DPS, and I'll gladly listen to their expertise. That and that I've never really played a serious mage before so I'm kind of in alien territory.
So, for now, I have no idea what the optimal spec is for Fire PvE. I get that there are certain essentials, but there are a few choices that need to be made as well. Right now, here's my main PvE spec idea. Feedback always welcome.
My main concern is that there aren't enough points in Tier 3 and 4 for the Fire Tree, due to Cauterize and Molten Shields seem like dumb choices for PvE. So you have to go back and take something from 1 or 2. Right now I'm putting points into Fire Power, which seems like a useful talent but one that can be skipped. Two points that could be used elsewhere. Improved Flamestrike? Molten Fury? Pyromaniac? Critical Mass? They all seem like they could be golden brown cheddary damage goodness, but taking them all is expensive and these plus Fire Power leave me with 33 points in the fire tree and few to go into the other trees. A shame because I heard that Invocation in Arcane tree is also golden brown cheddary damage goodness for those who know how to properly counterspell, which any good mage should do when needed.
Any help here would be appreciated.
I'll cross post these comments to MMO Champion mage forums and hopefully someone will bite.