Poster: Uthelm at 5/11/2006 10:23:31 AM PDT
Subject: Fire, Frost, Naxxramas, and YOU. |
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To Whom it May Concern,
Although I am pleased for the most part regarding the mage review, there are still a few things that have many concerned as 1.11 looms off in the distance. I won't address all of my concerns in this post, but just the concern that leads me to believe that it is imperative that mages acquire some sort of single target direct damage mana efficient arcane spell.
We don't need a spell like this simply for added damage. We need it to balance out our damage and viability with respect to end-game dungeons and resists.
Before news of 1.11, mages had to spec some combination of fire/arcane, arcane/fire, fire/frost, arcane/frost, for frost/arcane. This shows that fire/frost are needed as our primary damage schools. But the problem stems from end game dungeons and their resistances being equal to our primary damage schools.
After 1.11 the problem remains. Although AE and Evo are trainable and some new talents have been added, the issue of end game resists, our spell schools and talent trees, has not been addressed.
Now, we all now that fire mages can survive in MC. They can survive in BWL. They do great in ZG and AQ. Frost mages do better in MC, they do better in BWL, they will be most likely be outdamaged by fire mages in ZG and AQ, which is fine, given the tradeoffs fire mages give.
I've seen some of the new craftable Frost Resist gear coming out next patch, so it stands to reason there will be an issue with frost resist mobs/bosses there at some point, probably quite a lot of it, since there is crafted gear for it.
This means that the previous end game spec of Frost, that was viable in every instance due to lack of frost resistant mobs, may no longer be viable at end game. A frost mage can go through MC, BWL, AQ all in one week and do the best damage possible for their spec, because there are no frost resistant mobs. A fire mage can do the same, but will be outdamaged and be less efficient than the frost mage (not aq necessarily).
So, 1.11 comes along, talents (theoretically) stay the same, and the high end guilds begin Naxx. They still farm BWL, AQ each week. Some high end guilds may just go straight from BWL to Naxx, if possible, don't really know yet. So that mage can go from a fire resistant base dungeon one day to a frost resistant base dungeon the next.
Anyone else see an issue here? I sure as hell do. The arcane tree needs to do what it doesn't do now--offer us less specialized middle ground to compliment our other two trees while giving us options for damage as well.
We all know arcane missiles doesn't cut it.
Some argue for a complete revamp of our talent trees to address this situation, some don't think this is an issue, while others are see it as an issue but aren't sure how to address it.
I believe Blizzard sees this issue, but attempted to fix it by making the elementalist build more viable, so when we're in BWL we have the frost damage/efficiency, and when we're in Naxx we've got the firepower to deal with frost immunities.
This is good, but it's only a bandaid solution, in my opinion. It really puts those who don't want an elementalist spec in a bind.
Look at it this way: Other classes don't have to spec to be the best they can be for particular game instances. There are no bosses immune to daggers, none immune to mortal strike, none immune to shadow damage, none immune to holy damage, etc...
These other classes don't have to choose, why do we?
My suggestions:
1) Continue work on the arcane tree to have a greater support role, but to allow for more specialization within the further you go.
2) Just give us a mana efficient decent damage mainstay arcane spell, for those times when we come across highly resistant or immune fire/frost mobs.
- Add talents to increase its effectiveness, furthering the viability of frost/arcane, fire/arcane specs at end game. This solution would deal with the problem non-elemental specs have with resistances and will allow them to compete with their fellow mages with damage while spending talent points to do it.
Also, if you don't feel like making a new spell, just allow talents in the arcane tree that-
a) reduce mana cost of arcane missiles
b) increases damage done/crit chance
c) increase critiical strike bonus of arcane spells
d) allow for some other way for arcane missiles damage to be dealt
You could get rid of:
a) arcane focus
b) imp arcane missiles (or change it)
c) arcane resillience
d) wand spec
e) arcane concentration
f) and whatever
It doesn't really matter how you do it, just that you do it.
Help out your fellow mage and fellow man, present your constructive comments/feedback here on this issue and what your thoughts are. Tseric has seemed to relay our concerns to the developers in a timely/effective manner, so let's continue to provide him with our feedback to help our class.
Thanks for reading.
Uthelm[ post edited by Uthelm ]
| | | http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-mage&t=944392&p=#post944392 | | | Poster: Tseric at 5/11/2006 1:09:10 PM PDT
Subject: Re: Winter's Chill |
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I kind of feel like I'm throwing a brick through the window that is your discussion, but Naxrammas is not going to be a resist-themed dungeon as many have speculated. This affects much of your approach in the OP. Yes, there may be some frost resistance in an encounter, but it will not be as sweeping as you are suggesting. Frost mages should have little trouble contributing to the raid.
Also, while we are in the talent review process, new talented abilities or spells may be added, but the devs are not really focusing on giving players completely new spells. Talented abilities may be moved into a trainable position, but new spell addition is pretty much reserved for the expansion.
Quit Quibbling, Novice
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