Mage build for Cata

This is some great research guys, keep it up!

Just curious, what environment did you use for your testing? ICC? Target dummies? What buffs were involved?
 
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hmmm, i have been doing all my testing sans Focus Magic. Great results from Jason and Adam. Hadn't really thought about re-gemming but going full +20 int on reds seems like a great option. What other gems did you go for Jason?
 
Veiled dreadstone (10 INT + 10 HIT) to hit cap then stacked Brilliant Cards (+20 INT) and a few Quick King's Amber (20 Haste). I was in VoA tonight and held 9-10k dps. 10K+ with the burn method on the trash then I switched to the MA 4/1 rotation on bosses and still held 9k. Which is much better than the 7k I was used too. This was higher than the test me and Adam did due to raid buffs.
 
I was in ICC last night with a mage that had earned level 80 on November 10. I was highly annoyed that I couldn't inspect him (wasn't working) but he said he was in ilvl 219 gear. I barely out dps'ed him. I was chatting with Legohead (sorry, don't know RL name) afterwards and was completely amazed at the performance of the pug and, namely, this mage. His name is Imabadmage and my guess is that his guild carried him through ICC right after he hit 80 to gear him up. 8 out of 10 in the group were Kingslayers and we were cruising.

Side note, and should maybe create a separate thread; for all the 10 man ICC's that I have run we smashed records on all but one of the bosses that we hit. We started on Fester > Rotface > PP > Princes > BQL > Dreamwalker. I am very interested to see how fast people have been able to take down each of the bosses. For example on how fast we were moving we took down Fester in 2:01 and Rotface in 2:13. If you run DBM (which hopefully most are when in ICC) Legohead advised me to just type /dbm and you can look through your summary on your fastest kills on all the bosses.
 
Trying to find out when Arcane glyphs will be fixed but have found nothing. Almost like it is being ignored by Blizzard...
 
If I remember correctly, the glyphs will be fixed with 4.0.3a or when Cataclysm comes out.

It's all about priorities and RoI. They probably looked at all the things that needed to be fixed and completed before Cataclysm, and decided it wasn't worth the time to backport a fix into the previous patch version for the 4-6 weeks that patch level would be active.

Maybe a harsh answer, but they have a whole game to balance and run. Mages are not the center of the universe (Shamans are.)
 
Here's to hoping the patch today fixes it. I do completely understand about having to manage and balance the game and that mages are maybe 8% of the population so priority is given to issues affecting every player. I just didn't think it would be that difficult for them to re-classify the major glyph that is supposed to be in the category of Prime glyph. Frost have three focused Prime glyphs to slot exclusively towards their talents while fire has two and arcane gets only one at the moment.

And with your other comment...I think it's high noon at the O.K. corral and your Shaman has just tossed down the gauntlet. You have offended my honour - pistols at dawn!

And everyone knows the Toronto Maple Leafs are the center of the universe.
 
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Actually Arcane spec took quite a large hit. AB only stacking at 10% compared to 20% per stack is where our power to dps was mainly coming from and is very significant. Decreasing cast time will hopefully make up some of the damage lost but it will be interesting to see. The high burn phase may now be dead; but was also the only way I was actually using all my mana. Sounds like they have made it a more moderate damage rotation by decreasing mana cost to 150% instead of 175%. 5% damage increase on AM will definitely see a return of the 4 + 1 rotation exclusively (IMO). Time to do more dummy tests soon...can't promise tonight as tour guides in Azeroth will probably be able to make a killing when the servers are back up!

It may be time to consider fire as a main dps spec for mages now but I have never been a fire mage.

numbers to follow!
 
I am arc and frost atm but frost I use for my pvp spec. I look forward to testing arcane against fire (Todd) soon
 
I also have frost as my PVP spec but haven't glyphed it up either. Please post results of testing with Todd as I think arcane dps will be dropping.
 
I'm still trying to figure out the best balance between crit / haste / intel / mastery. I can pull 6k on target dummies, and 8-10k average on heroics and raids, and up to 13-16k single target burst. And now, for the first time since the patch, I can finally solo BC heroics. Whew!

Rotation:
Short Fights: AB+ rotation
Medium Fights: AB+5-6 - proc
Long Fights: AB+5 - proc - Barr - proc if up
(AB+4 when I start getting lower in mana)

Stats:
Spell Power: 3060
Haste: 757 (23.09%)
Hit: 446 (18.00%)
Crit: 857 (18.67%)
Mastery: 475 (10.35%)


Just tried a target dummy today.

9k with rotation
13k burst
Max Crit: 36k


I'm sure you guys are doing better? Please please let me know. I know I'm falling short somewhere.
 
I am mostly ilvl 264 (gs6000+) so we are similar in stats. I would suggest our numbers are very similar using the same rotation. I have decided to change it up though and go fire. I will post my observations after I have some time testing.
 
hmmm, tried going to that website and sort of stuck on loading page. Also imported my armory info but not much help.

Are you guys coming along well for gearing your mages? And are stats helpful so far for what to concentrate on?
 
I can't speak for Arcane specs since i have no interest in it. I can say that gearing is going quite well. I think for all specs though, spell hit is top priority but i'd only work on getting to the hit cap you need for what you are currently running (eg. if only running reg instances, just get to reg instance hit cap and worry about heroic hit cap when you get to that point).

For frost, i'd say to concentrate on Haste and Mastery. Frost is really nice on the mana pool and doesn't change the damage depending on mana (like Arcane).

For fire, i am still a little new to it (but loving it). Crit seems to be very important here (and possibly haste but that's just guessing since the fire spells have such a high cast time).

The frost spec i made actually scores higher for dps on the site than the one they provide (which i can see because it links to the old armory page that doesn't work anymore).


I can also make a few items since Reets is a tailor. Check out the 525 tailoring purple patterns or in-game with Guild roster for what i can make.
 
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Priority for mages has for the most part been solidified as Spell Power > Intellect > Hit Rating > Crit Rating > Haste Rating > Mastery

Reforging is very, very important as it added almost 1k of dps to my mage - I followed the "Optimize" guide on Mr. Robot

Just wanted to update this thread if there was a mage or two just leveling up and not sure :)
 
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with my little mage (Kyphus) - I had the opportunity to test a bit last night in a BH pug, as we had a couple of wipes.

iLvl = 343 for reference, no reforging as of yet

I love the frost spec / rotation, but over the course of the fight, my dps was in the solid 9k range. Switching to my fire spec, I was able to increase that by almost 1500 dps. I guess Ice really has been nerfed to be non optimal in PVE again. Sad.
 
BH is a great spot to test mage firepower because it is mostly sustained single target battles. Is there a buff in BH? My mage is ilvl 349 with reforging and enchants (not the ones requiring Maelstrom Crystals yet) and I usually hit for about 12k on arcane. I imagine that fire is higher than this figure.
 
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