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#1 Aug 12 2010 at 4:51 PM Rating: Decent
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4,684 posts
Hey guys,

I was eager to share some more of my mage experiences with you but figured it might be a good idea to contrive all this information into a single thread, and I didn't want to ninja Pigtails' one for it. Hence why I'm posting this. I'm inviting Pigtails, Diggory and whoever else might be rolling a mage in the Cataclysm beta to post their findings in here, so we can discuss them and keep everyone updated.

If there are any requests, feel free to shoot as well. I haven't decided on a spec yet but do have a main to supply gold for dual spec as soon as it's possible so I can try out as much as possible.


For now:
I'm playing my level 6 mage again. Doing quests around Sen'jin, which seems to be a decent 'hub' for both new Trolls and Orcs. By now I can positively confirm that Arcane Missiles will stop launching when your target moves out of range. Obviously I'm not sure if this is a beta thing, but it looks like a slight PvP nerf for Arcane mages. I'll update this post as I continue my session with anything that might be interesting to share.

On a semi-unrelated note; mages currently start off with Fireball, learn Arcane Missiles at level 3 and Fire Blast at level 5.

Edit: Just got a look at a trainer that goes all the way up to 80 (the trainer in the valley of trials doesn't teach anything but AM and FB), and it's looking interesting. Frost Bolt at 7, Counterspell at 9, Evocation at 12, Polymorph at 14, Blink at 16, Cone of Cold at 18 and... Mage Ward at 20. I don't believe we've had a lot of information on that one yet; it seems to purely be a combination of the Fire and Frost Wards, but Arcane damage is added to the list. You do not seem to get any armor at all until level 36, when you get Molten.

Edit 2: On another note, there isn't any Arcane Intellect in that list, and I haven't learned it yet. Hmmm.

Edit 3: There's a little bit of hope regarding AM - I'm getting the out of range and missiles not firing error sometimes even when I'm at (max) range, which leads me to think it might be more of a bug than anything else. Additionally, I've noticed that the fact that weapon skills are gone makes mage leveling that much friendlier; it is now no longer a bad to just melee down that mob on 3% health - you won't get 10 misses, dodges and parries while you're at it.

Edited, Aug 13th 2010 1:34am by Mozared

Edited, Aug 13th 2010 1:36am by Mozared

Edited, Aug 13th 2010 2:21am by Mozared
#2 Aug 13 2010 at 3:05 PM Rating: Good
I didn't get PW Fort on my Priest until the late teens or early twenties, so I'd guess that's probably when other classes get their group buffs too. It kind of irked me at first since we're so used to getting our buffs by level 6, but it sort of makes sense since we don't group up until level 15 now anyways.
#3 Aug 14 2010 at 8:16 PM Rating: Decent
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4,684 posts
New beta build;

Quote:
Arcane

* Mana Shield now has a 12 sec cooldown, up from 10 sec.
* Portal: Tol Barad - Creates a portal, teleporting level 85+ group members that use it to Tol Barad. / 18% of base mana, 10 yd range, 10 sec cast, 1 min cooldown, Reagents: Rune of Portals
* Teleport: Tol Barad - Teleports the caster to Tol Barad. / 8% of base mana, 10 sec cast, Reagents: Rune of Teleportation
* Improved Polymorph's effect cannot occur more often than once every 10 sec.


Fire

* Frostfire Bolt now slows the target by 40% (up from 20%) for 9 sec but no longer deals additional Frostfire damage over that duration. Cast time changed to 2.5 sec, down from 3 sec.
* Pyroblast damage has been increased by 5%.
* Fireball damage has been increased by 15%. No longer deals additional damage over 4 sec.
* Improved Flamestrike revamped - Reduces the casting time of your Flamestrike spell by 50/100% and gives you a 50/100% chance that your Blast Wave spell will also automatically Flamestrike the same location if two or more targets are affected by the Blast Wave.
* Hot Streak no longer affects Pyroblast.
* Cauterize now burns you for 12% of your maximum health every 1.5 sec (up from 1 sec) over 6 sec (up from 4 sec).
* Blast Wave now slows the targets by 70%. (Down from 75%)
* Molten Shields now reduces the global cooldown of Mage Ward by 1 sec. (Down from 1.5 sec)
* Impact now has a 5/10% chance (up from 4/7%) to cause the next Fire Blast you cast to stun the target for 2 sec and spread any Fire damage over time effects to nearby enemy targets within 12 yards.
* Improved Fire Blast now increases the critical strike chance of your Fire Blast spell by 4/8% instead of reducing its cooldown.


Frost

* Fingers of Frost has a 10/20/30% chance to proc (up from 5/10/15%) and now also affects Frostfire Bolt. Can now accumulate up to 2 charges of Finger of Frost instead of giving you 2 from the beginning.
* Improved Freeze now has a chance to grant 2 charges of Fingers of Frost.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/

Mostly bug/exploit fixes, but some pretty serious revamps on fire there. Makes me want to check out the tree.

On an additional note; I specced frost, as it gives you a Water Elemental as full blown pet now. I'm not sure when I'll get the time to play my mage again, but it should definitely be interesting. I might copy over a level 80 mage just to play with the various talent builds.
#4 Aug 14 2010 at 10:05 PM Rating: Good
Those are some pretty significant changes. But since they revamped that hotstreak is 2 crits in a row again, no reason to have pyro affect it again.

I like the change to impact, it becomes a pseudo aoe talent to spread out the living bomb to other targets instead of tab targeting I suppose, although I would never cast it unless I knew it was going to work near 100% of the time or else it is a complete wasted GCD.
#5 Aug 16 2010 at 5:57 PM Rating: Good
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363 posts
Wow, yeah. The idea behind that Impact change is good, but perhaps with the Fireblast stun, it just doesn't fit there at 100%. It's too bad they don't have a way to choose either the stun or a 100% dot spread, maybe a glyph?
#6 Aug 16 2010 at 7:22 PM Rating: Good
I read it wrong, it is a 100% spread, but it just has to proc off of your damaging abilities. The 'buff' on you lasts 10 seconds to do it. Think of a useable-pestilence proc.
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