Call of the- oh, wait, wrong patch

So, looks like patch 3.2.2 is dropping on the live servers today. Seemed like an appropriate time to reemerge on this blog and discuss some mage-y things.

Due to my computer SUCKING COMPLETE ASS, I haven't been able to get on the PTR. Ever. It just won't load the installation application, and it just doesn't work. So, take all of this with a grain of salt. I'll run some testing later tonight, or tomorrow when everything is live and stable.

Full patch notes can be found at MMO Champion. It's been updated a few times already today, and I'd expect to see more updates once the servers come back up. Here's the pertinent magely info from the patch notes:

Arcane

• Arcane Blast: The buff from using this ability now stacks up to 4 times instead of 3, and each application increases mana cost by 175% instead of 200%. In addition, the duration of the buff has been reduced to 6 seconds.
• Arcane Missiles: Casting this spell while both Missile Barrage and Clearcasting are active will cause only Missile Barrage to be consumed.
• Missile Barrage: The effect from triggering this talent now removes the mana cost of Arcane Missiles. In addition, the chance for Arcane Blast to trigger this talent is now 8/16/24/32/40%. All other listed spells continue to have a 4/8/12/16/20% chance to trigger it. This talent no longer has a chance to be triggered when spells miss.

Fire
Combustion: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of Fire spells by 50% while it is active. In addition, Living Bomb periodic ticks will no longer interact with the count or the charges on the talent.

First, let's discuss the fire changes, since that's easier. Summary: ABOUT FREAKING TIME! Combustion was a talent that I specced into from habit, but I don't think I've used since, uh, Naxx. Especially paired with the LB glyph, it maybe lasted about 6 seconds - hardly enough time for anything substantial to crit. The only time it got used was when I got MC'd and the boss decided to pop my "cooldowns".

A 50% increase in crit damage bonus is nice, but Combustion is still rather underpowered. Compare it to what the other specs get, like Icy Veins (20% haste) or PoM/Arcane Power (instant cast/30% more damage with 30% more mana cost). In comparison, getting three guaranteed spell crits is probably not worth a, what, 3 minute CD? Yeah (EDIT: still a 3 minute CD, and lasts until 3 non-periodic Fire spell crits). I'd be happier if it had a set duration/set crit chance bonus, or a shorter CD, or both! In its current format, you're not even guaranteed a Hot Streak proc. It needs a major overhall.

Now, for the Arcane changes... these I really want to get on and test. I've been specced fire for over a month now (and my arcane spec got cannibalized into a pvp frost spec for Faction Champs), and my roommate (a fellow mage, and diehard Arcane fan) and I have been really hoping that the potential buffs make Arcane a competitive spec again.

The Arcane Blast change can only be considered a buff, at least, as far as I'm concerned. We're going from a total of 600% mana increase:45% damage increase, to a 700% mana increase:60% damage increase. This is an increase in our DPM (damage per mana), which is so tenuous with Arcane mages. I'd like to test how this change, especially with the shorter duration, will affect our mana efficiency when paired with the Missile Barrage change.

Now, on to Missile Barrage. There was some confusion with this change (and since live realms are still down, I can't confirm either way). The patch notes state that "this talent now removes the mana cost". This is the wording generally used when the talent itself has changed. They usually put "this talent, in addition to its original effects, now removes the mana cost" if it's, well, an additional effect. The patch notes seem to be saying that the effect has changed from half the cast time, to no mana cost, but people were reporting that the talent was behaving, on the PTR at least, as though the mana reduction was an additional effect, and were still proccing half-time casts that were free. The latter would be an amazing boost, but the former just... sucks.

EDIT: as of last night, Missile Barrage got an awesome change! First: yes, it is free. As in, no mana cost. So that just saved you 960 mana. Woo! Second: it no longer casts "in half the time". No, the cast time is reduced by 2.5 seconds!!!! That, my friends, is AMAZING. I just lost a half second off the channel time for my Arcane Missiles (well, when I'm not fire specced). So I'll be casting Arcane Missiles that channel in 1.5s, and do 60% more damage, and they'll cost me no mana! This was a patch of Arcane-Mage-ly LOVE!

EDIT AGAIN: Just adding this in: my roommate, the other Arcane fan that hasn't yet abandoned her spec (I feel like a failure in my Frosty side), was running a heroic dungeon yesterday (dunno which one, though). After it's done, she runs in my room, and says 4 magic words:

I gained 1000 dps.

Oh. My. God. Wtb respec. (For comparison's sake, she's still in about 80% Naxx 25 gear, including her weapon, and she was pulling 6k dps or more. I'm actually going to wait a week or so for things to settle down. I fear an incoming nerf.)

Hm, I really haven't made any big insights on this post. Sigh. What a terrible comeback post.

Check back later in case I do update this. I'm also going to go work on what is, arguably, a more interesting post about how Vezax is EVIL.

Mage in Absentia

Well, hi. Yeah, things have been quiet around here, but I haven't really had much material to go on. Over the last month or more, I've logged maybe 10 or 12 hours played, total. Aside from visiting my parents and my in-laws (there's 2 weeks WoW-free), my account was hacked in June. Luckily, it was restored within 4 days, but since then I've raided I think once, maybe twice.

I'm not quitting WoW, just not playing as much as I used to. Which is fine; I need to find something productive to do in real-life anyways. Like a job, and school and things. I went out and bought yarn, size 8 knitting needles, and Knitting for Dummies yesterday, and I have vowed to finally learn to knit. I will rather likely be moving before the summer's out, back on campus. Last year, I attended less than half of my total days of school because getting from my home to classes was a chore (also, the breaks between said classes were too long for me to entertain myself at school, but just short enough that I didn't have time to bus home and back).

Things are afoot! Changes will be made!

Also, 12% mana cost reduction for Arcane Blast? Blizzard must love me!

PAC, cont'd

In response to yesterday's Power Auras post, Gnomeaggedon asked me to make a list of my auras and settings that I use. For most of you, it will be more worthwhile to read my previous post before this one :)

My mage has the most configured auras of all of my characters, however most are for her alternate specs. Here are the Auras I use:

• Fireball! (Frost), Hot Streak (Fire), Missile Barrage (Arcane)

These three auras all use the same settings, just switch the name of the buff in the Activation tab.

• Living Bomb (Fire, FFB)

This Aura doesn't have a timer, since it is set to show only when Living Bomb is not active.

• Icy Veins/Combustion/Arcane Power/Heroism/Trinket procs/etc.

These settings would work for any aura that you want triggered by a certain buff. These all show a timer.

I put these in separate from my Missile Barrage procs, etc., even though they use the same settings. For my trinkets and cooldowns, I generally use static auras - they don't bubble, pulse, move, or whatever. For my trinkets and Mana Surge (from my 2pcT7 bonus), I have the transparency on the aura set almost to zero - I'm only interested in the timer. Heroism does pulse, to make it look cooler ;)

• Arcane Intellect, Armor, or Food Buff fade

I use these auras to show when these buffs are not active. I've shown the example of my food buff, since I've set the duration in the animation tab to 30 seconds, so that if it fades during a boss fight, or I don't feel like refreshing it, the aura will fade and it won't clutter my screen.

For my Arcane Intellect and armor Auras (the Arcane Int. tab settings are shown in yesterday's post), I have the "only if in raid" option unchecked. That way, these auras will show while solo-ing as well.

• Low Health/Mana

Using the health or mana option gives you a percentage slider:

It's that simple! If you check the "Enemy Target" option, it will track your hostile target's health - useful for abilities that require the target to be below a certain percentage, or if you just want to know when to unload your awesome cooldowns.

And thus concludes another picspam post. Just keep in mind that the graphics used and the animations are entirely up to you - customize this awesome addon to your own needs! These settings can be adjusted to any class for any buff, debuff, whatever.

Power Auras Classic

I've been planning to do a post about Power Auras Classic, but WoWInsider beat me to it by featuring it in today's Addon Spotlight. I have a few screenshots lying around, and I figured I'd make a little tutorial.

I use this addon for everything. Pretty much all of my characters have something programmed into PAC, and my mage most of all. Power Auras will make an aura (an on-screen graphic) appear whenever something specified happens. For example, if my mage procs Missile Barrage, this is what my screen shows:

There's a big purple, pulsating graphic that is impossible to miss, even in the busiest of fights. It even has a timer at the top, showing me how much longer I have left on my proc. I've used the same mechanic to track Fireball! procs on my Frost spec, and Hot Streak procs as Frostfire/Fire. Here's how it works:

STEP ONE: type "/powa" to bring up the main menu, which I have moved over to the left of the screen.
STEP TWO: click on the red "new" button at the bottom of the menu, to open the configuration menu, which I have moved over to the right of the screen.

STEP THREE: customize your graphic! Slide the texture bar across to see the different graphics available. Clicking the "WoW Textures" box gives you a second set of textures, and you can add your own textures if you click "Custom Textures", but I've never done this. The little box at the bottom left of the sample graphic allows you to change the colour. Resize and move the graphic using the X-axis, Y-axis, and size sliders.

In this example, I'm creating an aura to show when I do not have Flask of the Frost Wyrm (my raiding flask) active, but only if I'm in a raid. Here's what my graphic looks like:

The first option I click is "show when not active" (the box in the first image above). If you leave this unchecked, the aura will show when the proc is active, like with my Missile Barrage example, above. By checking the box, it will only appear if the buff/debuff is not active. I use this option to show whether I have a food buff (again, only in raids), as well as all of the time to show when my Arcane Intellect and Armor have faded.

Next, you should fill in the information about the buff/debuff itself. In the "Activation" tab at the bottom, type in the name of the spell. From the drop-down menu, chose whether it is a buff, debuff, or any other number of conditions. If it has a specific stack number that you're looking for (for example, 5 stacks of Imp. Scorch, or Maelstrom Weapon), enter that number in the "Stacks" box, next to the menu.

Next, click the options below that apply to this buff. Do you want it to only show up during raids? Click that option. Is it a debuff on an enemy target? Click the red "Enemy Target" option, and it will track it for your current target. If there's going to be more than one of the same debuff on a boss (for example, three Fire mages all cast Living Bomb), click "Cast by me" to track only your debuff.

To set up a timer, click on the far-left customization tab. Move the timer to where you want it on-screen, and that's it! The first time the aura activates, the timer will calculate automatically. You can also set manual timers, if needed.

The last bit of customization that I use is the animations. I set most of my auras to Bubble and Pulse, since that makes them very noticeable. There are many options, all of which can be previewed.

Here is what the set-up for my Armor aura looks like:

I've added in all of the possible armors, separated with slashes. I did the same for Arcane Intellect, Brilliance, and the Dalaran variations of each.

Here are the options for my Living Bomb aura:


To set up an aura for low health/mana etc., click the option from the drop-down menu and move the slider to the desired percentage. For example, I have an aura pop up when I'm at 10% mana, and 20% health:


To conclude this picture-heavy post, here is what my screen looks like with all of my raiding procs up:

The red at the top is for Heroism (Bloodlust, for you Hordies), with a timer. The purple circle and timer are for Missile Barrage. The yellow and green timers are for my two spellpower trinket procs. The pink timer at the bottom is for Mana Surge, the spellpower proc from the 2pcT7 bonus. The blue graphic and timer at the very bottom are for Icy Veins.

THIS IS NOT JUST FOR MAGES! I know there's an addon called Scorchio that does most of what I just showed you, but I love how much I can customize and adapt PAC. I'm working on making an aura to show when Pallymar, greedy little healer he is, has my Focus Magic buff. My DK uses PAC to track her diseases and Horn of Winter/Strength of Earth Totem. My pallies have auras for when they're missing Seals and Blessings. Power Auras Classic is a very versatile addon, and definitely worth trying out.

Noob-ish Mistakes - as tagged by Averna

So, Averna at Nerf This Druid tagged me to write about my noobish mistakes.

First, as I mentioned back in the beginning, I played a lot of lowbie alts before I settled on a mage, and I made a variety of noobish mistakes on them all. I'll try to compile a list, but I've no guarantee it'll be amusing:

• my first noobish mistake was rolling a freaking warlock, and an Undead one to boot! That fail character is still sitting at level 17, never to be touched again.
• I used to be not-so-familiar with talent points, and just stuck them wherever, without reading what came further down the tree. I think when I was first speccing Luth, she had talent points spread across the first tier of all three trees until like level 30.
• I have, on multiple occasions, forgotten to go "level up" when I dinged an even level. I did this at level 42 on Luth! I was a noob for a while with her.
• On my shaman, I decided that totems were too much of a hastle, and stopped using them. I also tried to level as resto, and just melee'd until the CD on my Earth Shock was up.
• I definitely specced into Improved Wands. Yep.
• I didn't move my hearthstone for probably the first 30 or so levels. I just walked everywhere.
• I have definitely beaten mobs to death with my staff.
• I didn't spec either of my paladins into Seal of Command, which I later learned is an absolute must for leveling. Oops.
• Just because I can wear it, doesn't mean I should. My shaman has Agilty gear, and she's caster.
• I specced Frost for the very first time like a week ago. At the same time, I actually learned how to pvp. I've never won against a ganker; I just wait to die, and then move on.

I can't really think of anything overly... funny that I failed at. I never had to do the corpse run through Wetlands... not only was I leveling a mage, but I was being mentored by another mage, who just ported me everywhere.

Sorry Av, my post is fail :(

EDIT: Ooo, yeah, I forgot to tag people!
Gnomeaggedon at Armaggedon's Coming. Happy birthday! Now tell us your noobish fails!
Pallymar!
Xelaeno, my dear old guildie, at Holy Fire Spec.
Aaand I've run out of people to tag :( I was considering tagging Tal, but I don't think this is quite up his alley.

I'm also going to try to make a real post later, a lot of people have been debating over Mage Armor vs. Molten Armor for Arcane mages, and I'd like to look into it.

I has a pretty!

As you may have noticed, I'm making an attempt to make my blog prettier. Or at least, not so "default". Unfortunately, HTML and I are not great friends, so this might be as far as this one gets. So for the next while, there may be some cosmetic changes (hopefully improvements).

In-game, I haven't been doing much. Went on a trip to visit my parents, so I had a week of IRL time that happened to start the Wednesday after patch day. So, consequently I'm more than I week behind on Argent Tournament (I have 12 Valiant Seals for Exodar, not a Champion of anything yet), and I missed a week and a half of Ulduar raiding (UPDATE 05/02: successfully Championed Exodar last night!).

I caved and bought dual specs, since my roommate decided that she was going to teach me how to PVP. I am terrible at PVP, and if I'm being ganked I'll just stand there and take it. The sooner I die, the sooner I can rez and get back to questing, right? However, Frost is, uh, more survivable, and having some extra health from (crappy) PVP gear kinda helps. I only managed to beat Burstãngel twice, in what seems like dozens of duels, but what else can you expect when you're dueling one of the best ret pallies on the server >.>

So right after I've become comfortable with my Frost spec, I log on to find... talent point bug! Both of my trees had 63 of their points refunded (???). All the points where still accessible, but it was as if I had specced into the first tier of my tree, then stopped. All of my abilities were unlearned, and my points waiting to be spent. I respecced my Arcane tree, but since I, uh, don't know my Frost tree off by heart, it still needs to be fixed.

Hopefully, someday, I'll turn this into a productive blog. For now, I'll make it pretty.

OHAI, there's a Mage! and Other Stuff

As I suspected, I got lazy at this whole blog thing. It's exam season, so I've been working on last-minute end of school projects and studying, so my time's pretty limited.

I've also, in my "well, crap, engame is on farm" boredom, started leveling a few alts. Most notably, my Death Knight Chaostí, who I'm leveling in tandem with my boyfriend's shaman Lampyridae. I also (guiltily) started a mini-druid, Siuan.

Druids are a lot of fun. Things... die. Really fast. I guess this is a characteristic of melee classes, since my OP Death Knight (in the true nature of the class) whacks things to death faster than my mage can cast at them. I watch my roommate (Burstãngel) destroy things on her retadin, and I get jealous. Not to mention, not being squishy helps a lot too.

When I was in high school, a group of friend and I started a, um, "club" called G.E.E.K. Stood for Gifted English Enrichment Klub, but really we were playing Dungeons and Dragons. With our grade 11 English teacher. Yes, I played a spellcaster (a wizard, if I recall, but sorcerers are more fun) and wandered around in my cloth armor, carrying my greatstaff and hoping that I didn't die.

In WoW, you're restricted to only certain armor proficiencies. A mage cannot don mail shaman gear. However, armor works differently in D&D. Rather than outright restrict you, they penalize you.

Here's how it works. If a caster that's a cloth wearer wants to wear a Leather Jerkin of +1 Asskick, rather than be locked out from it, they gain an additional chance that their spell will fail. I like this mechanic. Many leather and mail pieces are simply superior to cloth, and the added armor and less-squishiness is nice, too.

If this mechanic were to translate into WoW, I assume it would simply decrease our hit chance. For some classes (poor rogues and paladins), hit cap is merely something they'd like, but will never, ever see. Rogue hit cap is something along the lines of 800+ hit rating, and ret pallies actually lose overall DPS by striving for hit capping. However, for us lucky mages (Arcane mages even more so), hit cap is actually too easy to obtain.

For example, up until Monday (when I grabbed a few new hit rating-less pieces) I was over hit cap, self buffed, by 0.90%. Not even with an SPriest or Boomchicken. A lot of our item budget is wasted on excess hit. If you were to wear what is largely considered best in slot, a mage would have over 400 hit rating, which would translate into something around 25% hit. Excessive.

Now, I'd gladly take a hit chance penalty to wear, say, Unravelling Strands of Sanity. I'm always reading over loot and wishing I wasn't locked from the remaining 3 armor classes. Shaman grab cloth boots and bracers, Druids like some cloth pants, ret Pallies have leather items that are almost best in slot. I'm stuck with lousy cloth, with no other options.

A Warlock in my guild suggested a lore-friendly reason why he should be able to wear leather: due to their mastery of demonkind, Warlocks have learned to craft leather armor from their hides. If only mages could, say, "control the elements of earth and space, and gain proficiency with mail".

So I'll be off to enjoy my non-squishy alts until Ulduar, and try to get Lampy raid-worthy (crossing my fingers, we could always use another shaman). Until then, my Arcane-wielding, world-shattering Mage will take the back burner.