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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWWI '08 Panel: Mage
by Michael Gray 
Jun 28th 2008 at 2:00PM
Well. At first, it didn't seem to me like Tom Chilton had as much news for Mages at the first WWI dev panel as he did for other classes, but one of the Q&A dialogues did reveal a nice vision for our future.The most common news being reported, of course, is the new "bolt" spell -- the Frostfire bolt. This is a direct damage nuke that's a mix of "fire" and "ice" damage types, and will help circumvent the resistances of certain bosses who have an affinity for an element. Eh. I mean, that's great and all, but it doesn't really speak to any retooling or massive re-vamp at the ways Mages need help.
However, during the Q&A, one of the audience members was a lot more pointed. Now that everyone seems to have their own spammable crowd control, he askes, what's being done to bring Mages back to a more unique role?
The answer was awesome. Simply put, if everyone's doing crowd control, then Mages are going to be buffed in their hallmark: raw, unadulterated damage. Especially since Seed of Corruption shines against our AE damage ability, Chilton says we should expect to see our overall damage output increased.
Does this mean Mages will become the epitome of WoW DPS? Mm, I'm not holding my breath - but at least in terms of putting us back in a vital, noticeable role, the future looks hopeful. Stay tuned as we continue to cover the WWI event, and try and bring the best (and worst) news available.
Filed under: Mage, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Worldwide Invitational
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
Elitiana Jul 3rd 2008 3:43AM
Umm folks, sheeps break. Look for the little 'puff' of smoke around the sheep that is wandering by, that's the mage re-sheeping, constantly.
And Drad? You kinda shot yourself in the foot there a few times.
I'm only doing SSC & TK & MH but yes, I can be beaten on the dps charts, rogue, locks and hunters can all beat me, not ness. all the time but as soon as you leave Kara you find that their dps begins to improve more with gear upgrades than your own. AOE? Sure we have heaps of options, the only useful one in raids is Arcane Explosion (with 40% threat reduction talents) because dead mages don't dps (except for 2 ticks of ignite)
+40 int = 600 mana = less than 3 spells for a mage. Increase in crit? yeah about a quarter of a percent. Not really make or break on a raid boss.
Free mana pot? On the same cooldown as healthstones and a number of other consumables and gives back upto 2460 mana, not even half the mana pool of a ret pally! In 10 mans I can be easily reduced to wanding with mana gem, mana pots and evocation all on CD. (With no AB) 25s are a bit better because there is usually alot more moving around.
Biscuits? at the minor cost of 20 silver saves each person in the raid 1 gold? Yeah, really important, go sell a grey and buy a stack.
Now onto the ranting part of your post:
You claim no CC, I hear cyclone and hibernate. (With a quick shapeshift)
You claim no group utility, I read Battle Rez, Innervate, Off Healing. (This is the bit where you really shot yourself.)
I'm not going to point out all the problems with mages, anyone who has done more than switching in an alt. in Kara already knows what they are.
Instead I'm going to run off to level my Retnoob (Off tanking is CC too.)
Mairiiv Jul 29th 2008 8:36AM
Hmmm, I've just been reading a bit around the comments of each class.
Look what I've found the author of the Warlock comments wrote.
I'll be honest, I can see it. Seed of Corruption is an amazingly powerful spell. There really are few PvE highs have had higher than the pure joy of chain casting SoC in order to bring down 10 orcs at once in Shattered Halls, or to obliterate Illhoof's imps. You just can't match it. At the same time, I can understand that Mages, who really do have a bit less utility than a Warlock, deserve that get a bit more damage.
The operative words are 'Mages, who really do have a bit less utility than a Warlock, deserve that get a bit more damage' this from another class. Thus it's not just mages that think they are undervalued it's that bad that other classes notice it.
Turulo Aug 12th 2008 11:15AM
Being a mage myself and having a warlock both well equiped, I'm pretty satisfied with the mage cause is very confortable to use and ppl call u to do instaces and all.
One only thing I cannot understand is why blizz would make warlocks that are 70 for a week outdps a fully equipped mage... just doesn't make sense, and just by hitting the shadowbolt key.
And the other problem is that when I'm watching my dps against a warlock almost always the warlock can output more because of the threat reducing imp.
So the conclusion, Blizz, if u want to make a very small change in the balance but give mages a great present give them something reduce more threat. Invisibility cuts all the dps and can be used only marginally. And dpsing as arcane sucks.