Ghostcrawler announces Mage changes for next patch
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 10th 2008 at 1:45PM
Mages, your changes for the next patch are out, and there's good news for the Arcane among you -- GC says they're buffing the spec to bring it up to par with the rest of the Mage options. On the other hand, they're being careful about PvP, so Arcane Barrage is getting closely examined -- you might want to Iceblock it whenever you can to avoid aggro on that one from the devs.The full list of changes is after the break, but here's a quick summary: Evocation cooldown reduced to four minutes, with Arcane Flows also reducing the cooldown even further. Arcane Blast got an overhaul -- will now increase the damage of your next Arcane spell by 30%, or you can stack it, for a higher mana charge. So you can use it to buff Barrage, or use it as it is now, just upping the Blast and mana costs every time. Interesting.
Elemental Precision lost the Elemental and will work on all spells, and Improved Blizzard got a slight nerf, with the snaring effect percentage reduced. Actually, that's most of the changes right there, but for those of you at work unable to see the forums, they're pasted after the break anyway. I don't play a Mage but it looks like you guys got off easy -- Arcane is the real winners, but even Frost and Fire got that Precision buff.
Update: GC explains the Blast change better than I can.
1) Evocation – cooldown reduced to 4 min.
2) Arcane Flows – now also reduces the cooldown of Evocation by an additional 1 / 2 min.
3) Arcane Blast – overhauled. Will now increase the damage of your next Arcane spell by 30%. However using Arcane Blast itself does not consume the charge, but instead increases the mana of your next Arcane Blast, up to a maximum of 3 stacks. You can alternate Blast and Barrage to keep buffing Barrage, or you can build Blast up higher for a heavy mana cost.
4) Torment the Weak – now works with Arcane Blast and does bonus damage to targets afflicted by any kind of slowing effect (e.g. Thunder Clap).
5) Elemental Precision – renamed Precision and now works on all spells.
6) Improved Blizzard – snaring effect reduced to 20/40/50%
Filed under: Mage, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Buffs
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Binkel Dec 10th 2008 1:52PM
Neat ^_^
Nodaba Dec 10th 2008 1:52PM
Maybe now I'll be able to go back to my beloved Arcane spec instead of the powerful but un-fun Frostfire Bolt spec.
To say nothing else, the mobilty of arcane makes being a raid leader a little easier. I can move around and see the fight with minimal dps loss.
Matazuma Dec 10th 2008 1:54PM
wow 2 min evocations thats pretty cool.
Too bad they nerf'd blizzard i loved the 85% snare it was kind OP tho.
Very nice changes overall.
placebo Dec 10th 2008 3:31PM
It's only being nerfed from 65% to 50% with 3 points. You'll still get 70% talented with Permafrost and Chilled to the Bone.
Alizar Dec 10th 2008 1:55PM
Any news about Warlocks. Maybe reducing the cooldown on demonic circle teleport?
Rob Dec 10th 2008 2:03PM
Be careful what you wish for, sometimes it is better if the Eye of Sauron doesn't look your way. (yes, I play a paladin and a hunter)
Alizar Dec 10th 2008 2:05PM
Ouch double nerfed
Cosmo Dec 10th 2008 2:26PM
OH! Sorry Rob
Squishy Dec 10th 2008 6:33PM
Oh look. It's a warlock asking a warlock question in a mage column. Not the brightest kid on the block, is he?
Alizar Dec 10th 2008 7:13PM
You must be fire spec...with the flames and all
KovaaK Dec 10th 2008 2:05PM
If precision now affects all spells, does that mean it's a silent nerf to Frostfire? Previously, Frostfire was gaining the benefit from Elemental precision twice over - presumably because they had it listed under fire spells as well as frost spells... now if they are changing the talent to just increase hit (my guess - I'm at work and can't read forums), it probably will only affect Frostfire once.
Oneiromancer Dec 10th 2008 2:15PM
I'm sure the change to Elemental Precision is mostly to avoid Frostfire Bolt double-counting. But it makes me wonder if they're going to modify the Arcane Focus talent, which adds 3% hit chance for Arcane spells. It wouldn't be *too* hard for an Arcane spec to get Precision and have +6% hit chance, but I would really hope they'd move Precision down into the first tier of Frost (although that would give us a free respec).
I am very excited about the change to Arcane Blast...I recently switched to Frostfire to try it out, and realized that the build *heavily* depends on crit, and the leveling itemization is very tilted towards haste. I've been slowly switching out crit for haste, but now I might not have to worry about it so much. I am really enjoying Arcane (I totally abuse no-fade-Invisibility and I've always loved Slow) and I'd rather not be "forced" to switch to a Frostfire build (although when they release spec-switching I would still keep that as my alternate build).
Shin Dec 10th 2008 2:15PM
I think you're right, but it's not as much a nerf as a bug fix. The hit was never intented as far as I know.
PS @ developers: It seems you took some dps from hunters away. Since having stuff laying around is really untidy, I think it's better to drop them off at some class called mages :3
Xigageshi Dec 10th 2008 2:21PM
yea GC confirmed that in a reply on the forum topic, frostfire bolt will now only gain 3% plus hit from precision.
and yea, i'll miss blizzard's slow as well, but it was stupidly overpowered haha as long as they keep the crit chance on it, i'm happy.
i'm glad to see an arcane buff inc, I too found my new frost fire build to be un-fun. just hit 75 last night, respecced and everything. sure stupidly high crits are nice, but I miss running around while I fight!
Falcio Dec 10th 2008 2:01PM
2 min. Evocation? Yowza. That's going to increase my Mage's leveling speed by leaps and bounds. Fun!
Ed (Sindarin, Hydraxis US) Dec 10th 2008 2:03PM
Convenient - at this rate the patch should hit just as I finish leveling my hunter and move onto my mage.
Cy Dec 10th 2008 3:13PM
Oddly (and sadly) enough, for me it will be the opposite.
darian Dec 10th 2008 2:06PM
I had been contemplating which of my alts to equip with heirloom gear first. I think the question has been answered.
Jay in Oregon Dec 10th 2008 2:13PM
The reduction in speed for Improved Blizzard is a good thing. Right now, if you have Improved Blizzard topped off, you'll end up overwriting the 8-second-long 50% speed debuff of Cone of Cold with a 1.5-second-long 75% speed debuff. This not a good thing if you're using those spells to control a group of mobs.
And Evocation's cooldown drops to 4 minutes? Very nice!
The other changes seem to affect mostly Arcane-specced Mages, so I can't comment.
MyrddinE Dec 10th 2008 4:53PM
The blizzard snare lasts 4.5 seconds if you're specced with the three extra Permafrost points... and anyone who is upset about the Blizzard nerf probably has those points. 4.5 seconds is more than enough in most cases.