Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWoW Patch 3.1 PTR Mage glyphs and changes
by Christian Belt 
Feb 24th 2009 at 11:15PM
Good news, guys. Polymorph: Rabbit is finally here. You can stop writing angry letters to Blizzard; they've finally heard your pleas. On the PTRs for patch 3.1, you can now change your opponents into a rabbit, providing you a much-needed alternative to only being able to change them into a sheep, penguin, pig, turtle, black cat, serpent, or a smoldering pile of ash. I think I speak for everyone when I say: Thank God. We can only hope it'll cost a stupid amount of gold to procure.
Aside from that (and I hope you can see the sarcasm dripping from every word up there), there just isn't that much to get excited about here for Mages. We were promised several things, and you'd have to be truly skilled at seeing silver linings to view any of the documented or undocumented changes we know about at this point as Blizzard even approaching delivery on any of those promises. I'm not thrilled.
I'll go in depth on these changes in Saturday's Arcane Brilliance, and maybe we'll know more by then, but for now, let me list the changes with my brief impressions of them.
The actual changes are posted first, with my initial reactions to them in italics directly after each.
Patch Notes for Mages
- Arcane Blast stacking effect is no longer considered a Magic effect and will not be dispelled. This is a needed change. I have zero problem with it, but it should have happened a long time ago.
Frost
- Improved Water Elemental: Renamed Enduring Winter. Instead of the Water Elemental increasing mana regeneration for the Mage's party, casting Frostbolt now has a 33/66/100% chance to provide the Replenishment buff to up to 10 people in the Mage's party or raid. As you'll see in the undocumented changes below, this isn't exactly accurate. I'll hold my tongue until you get to that listing.
Undocumented Mage Changes
Arcane
Skills
- Mage Armor has been increased to allow 50% of your mana regneration to continue while casting. (Previously 30%) We sort of knew this was coming. As you'll see, the talents in the Arcane and Fire trees that grant mana regen while casting are similarly buffed. This is to counterbalance the across-the-board nerf to spirit-based mana regeneration also coming in this patch. Essentially, it will ensure that these talents grant about the same amount of regen post-patch that they do now. It's not really a buff, and not really a nerf, either.
- *New Spell* Polymorph Rabbit - Transforms the enemy into a harmless rabbit, forcing it to scamper around for up to 50 sec. While wandering, the rabbit cannot attack or cast spells but will regenerate very quickly. Any damage will transform the target back into its normal form. Only one target can be polymorphed at a time. Only works on Beasts, Humanoids and Critters. Super.
- Arcane Meditation (Tier 4) Allows 17/33/50% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting. (Previously 10/20/30%) Again, this change isn't the buff that it may seem to be. It only serves to counter the nerf to spirit-based regen. As a by-product, it also makes this talent even more of a must-take talent for PvE than it already was.
Talents
- Burnout (Tier 10) now only affects Fire Spells. (Previously affected all spells) This doesn't change much, as for the most part only deep Fire and Frostfire Mages have access to this talent anyway.
- Pyromaniac (Tier 7) now allows 17/33/50% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting. (Previously 10/20/30%) Now, I'm not on the PTR to test this out, but I'm assuming the other part of this talent, the extra 3% crit chance, is still intact. If not, this is unacceptable. If so, this is another change made solely to counterbalance the spirit nerf.
Frost
Talents
- Improved Water Elemental (Tier 9) has been renamed Enduring Winter. It now increases the duration of your Summon Water Elemental spell by 5 sec and your Frostbolt spell has a 33/66/100% chance to grant the Replenishment effect to up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 0.25% of their maximum mana per second for 15 sec. Okay. This is as close as we get to the fulfilment of any of the promised Mage changes. Frost Mages get replenishment. The replenishment mechanic is tied to the main nuke, Frostbolt, so it will be up constantly without any change in the rotation Frost Mages were already using. I guess this is a stab at giving Frost Mages more raid utility, but I'm just not seeing it. Chances are there's already another class (Shadow Priest, Survival Hunter, Retribution Paladin) offering a replenishment buff in your raid, and these buffs don't stack. Oh well, at least now Frost Mages have a bit more to offer a raid. We'll see how this works out.
Undocumented Glyph Changes
- Glyph of Ice Lance - Your Ice Lance now causes 4 times damage against frozen targets higher level than you instead of triple damage. (Old: Increases the range of your Ice Lance by 5 yards) I suppose this is Blizzard's way of giving you a reason to use Ice Lance in raids? It's a positive change to the glyph, as the old range-increasing functionality wasn't very useful in PvE. I just hope this isn't all Blizzard had in mind when they promised "PvE Shatter combos."
- Glyph of Ice Armor - Your Ice Armor and Frost Armor spells grant an additional 50% armor and resistance. (Old: 20%) A good PvP change that makes a glyph that was previously of dubious worth more valuable.
- Glyph of Deep Freeze (new) - Increases the range of Deep Freeze by 10 yards. A welcome change, though I would have preferred a glyph that PUT BACK THE DAMAGE THE COMPONENT making the spell worthwhile in PvE. The extra range is nice for PvP, though.
- Glyph of Living Bomb (new) - The periodic damage from your Living Bomb can now be critical strikes. Awesome. Really, this makes Living Bomb even more useful as part of a PvE rotation. I'm a fan of this change. It's a DPS increase. I'm always a fan of DPS increases.
- Glyph of Arcane Barrage (new) - Reduces the mana cost of Arcane Barrage by 20%. I'm assuming this is a way to counterbalance the recent damage nerf this spell suffered, and make it a worthwhile part of a PvE rotation again. I just think it's stupid that I have to waste a glyph slot to make the spell worth the mana cost again.
- Glyph of Mirror Image (new) - Your Mirror Images gain the Winter's Chill talent, granting their Frostbolt spell a 100% chance to apply the Winter's Chill effect, which increases the chance spells will critically hit the target by 1% for 15 sec. Stacks up to 5 times. I need some time to run the numbers on this before I decide on committing glyph slot on it, but it sounds like a decent DPS increase to me. It'd certainly be nice to have a better reason to blow the cooldown on this spell every time it's up during boss fights, and a potential 5% crit chance bonus that applies to everybody (which is what it sounds like this does) would do that and then some. More on this in Saturday's Arcane Brilliance, after I get a chance to look into it more closely.
- Glyph of Ice Barrier (new) - Increases the amount of damage absorbed by your Ice Barrier by 30%. Another good PvP glyph. This one will certainly be worthy of a slot for just about any PvP Frost Mage.
Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.Filed under: Mage, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Classes, Buffs, Inscription
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
Drak Feb 25th 2009 1:16AM
Yes, but the effect they're giving to the images has the exact same name as the frost talent for the same purpose. Also, you'll note that Warlocks are getting a change that will make shadow bolt offer a 5% crit increase to the raid.
Add in the fact that they wanted to make this debuff "less of a unique snowflake", if I got the quote right, and I think it's a very good guess that the overall effectiveness of this debuff is being reduced and spread around.
Drak Feb 25th 2009 1:20AM
Arg, and I meant to add: fire mages have an improved scorch glyph to get their debuff to a full stack in 2 casts. This seems a lot like it enables frost mages to pop mirror image and have a full stack in about the same total time spent, so that also evens it out a bit.
I don't see where an arcane mage would choose this over several other glyphs, especially if there are other mages or warlocks in the raid.
Now that Frost is supposed to become a more viable raiding spec I think that's totally in line with their current design direction. I guess time will tell!
Zaka Feb 24th 2009 11:36PM
Nickyjean, just use this Macro:
/castrandom [harm] Polymorph(Rank 4), Polymorph(Pig), Polymorph(Turtle), Polymorph(Black Cat), Polymorph(Serpent)
/stopmacro [noharm]
Add/remove spells you have.
jam Feb 24th 2009 11:53PM
Meh. Still waiting for something that will make Frost mage viable for raiding.
Yes, I can play Frost mage now and manage, but when Frostfire, Fire and Arcane builds all out dps it clearly, it's not something I want to do. I love playing frost, and the people I raid with wouldn't mind if I specced into it (the content is so easy it doesn't matter), but I can't justify it to myself.
Hopefully this Water Elemental change is just the beginning, there are plenty of people in my raid group (and in most others I'd imagine) that can give Replenishment, so that doesn't make it any more desirable.
Give frosties moar dps!!
Balius Feb 25th 2009 12:43AM
Not all specs are useful for all activities. If you have three viable raiding specs, you have two more than some classes have. I'm sorry if you like it and like raiding, and the game's balance doesn't allow you to do both, but that's a personal thing, not a change that needs to happen.
On the bright side, with dual specs you can bring the high dps to raids and spend your solo time as a spec you enjoy more.
JDM Feb 25th 2009 3:48AM
@Balius:
Exactly what I plan on doing. My current FFB for raiding, Frost for aoe grinding. I'm very excited.
Cy Feb 25th 2009 2:07AM
Still hoping that they'll change the Mage Armor glyph and buff it up tp 33%. Otherwise Arcane Mages using Mage Armor up will lose about 10% of their combat mana regen.
Perlin Feb 25th 2009 4:14AM
I actually think that Glyph of Ice Lance is a lot bigger change then you put it out as Christian. The spell goes from a 'same dmg as frostbolt in shatter combo' spell, to a '33% more dmg then a frostbolt in shatter combo' spell.
I have had a raiding frosty guildie who pulled off the 3 crit shatter combo when FoF procced and did good dps with it. Of course, at least 200 dps behind FFB, Fire and Arcane, but still respectable.
Another thing about that glyph, is that people who cannot pull off the FoF 3 crit shatter combo (which are quite a number of people I tell you) can actually go and cast 2 ice lances when FoF procs and get quite a big DPS increase compared to just 2 frostbolts. This may actually become the normal thing to do with that glyph.
Also, LB, love the glyph.. hate the fact that it may maybe ruin Hot Streak procs with non crits and at least will have to replace another good DPS glyph. I myself am thinking of ditching Molten Armor for it, because 2% extra crit isn't really that much when you are already almost pushing 60% raid buffed. (I love FFB and Fire/Arc specs :P)
Ryan Feb 25th 2009 4:26AM
Mirror Image needs more HP they die far to ez in PVP and PVE they get one shot and dont add that much Damage if you ask me
Dramax Feb 25th 2009 5:04AM
Come on Blizz! Rabbit!?! Anything but that! Other classes will complain that we have a privileged position among them.. While they're getting actually USEFUL changes and power-glyphs, we're getting THE Rabbit nuke spell!!! ( ...? )
Said it before and I'll say it again.
Nothing really useful for mages here, only cosmetics..
rh-dark Feb 25th 2009 5:36AM
This is just sad, i dont want another polymorph. I dont need more mana repl. Im a raiding frost and need more dps. Thats is it , thats what im supposed to do - more damage. No one needs a sheep (or what ever) in raiding anymore.
I think that a mage with any spec tree should do more damage than any one esle after 10 sec or so. We are supposed be the glas cannon, so if u need Blizz just make us more glas BUT change us back to be THE cannon. All tree spec trees incl frost.
I guess this changes goes hand in hand with the boost tha mage professions Alchemy is getting: one potions for lvl 15.
Mages are in the game to do damage, Blizz show us some love!
Xzerqces Feb 25th 2009 7:10AM
These changes do NOTHING to replace the 400-600DPS PVE damage that I lost with the recent nerf.
Not much here to be happy about. The game is turning into a Death Knight/Pally battle game. Less here for me each day...
Phangor Feb 25th 2009 7:24AM
you "need a chance to run numbers"? please. all your theorycrafting comments are lifted directly from elitistjerks, week after week. stop pretending.
themightysven Feb 25th 2009 8:31AM
does the black cat transformation have the same interaction with stinky as the black cat vanity pet?
it totally should...
Frank Feb 25th 2009 9:41AM
that would be
AWESOME!
Orrin Feb 25th 2009 8:35AM
All those changes look lame. I don't see any work on mage class and I hope they just didnt have time for it. What I mean is look at another class changes - they got much more candies. The only change what was done for Mages is only an interesting Arcane spell rotation - and clunky Arcane talent tree (no offense, it's just doesn't seems to be spec tree, just a bunch of talents). And what about Frost and Fire specs? Spam nuke - thats all.
Well, I'm not very surprised since we've saw special mage love all this time. Just count the number of Blizzard staff forum posts referred to mages in comparison to any other class - we're at the bottom of the list. Look at the changes mage talent trees saw. The thing is that I don't want to reroll to Warlock to feel like wizard who has fun playing...
zaababy Feb 25th 2009 9:14AM
Glyph of mirror image: will that stack with the scorch debuff I'm already putting up?
ambient Feb 25th 2009 10:45AM
Wow man, I have no idea why you're so down on Frostbolt proccing Replenishment.
First of all, it only covers 10 people. Two casters proccing it in a 25-man will just help cover all of the raid. Seems to me that ranged DPS is more sought than melee DPS these days, so it's VERY likely that there will be more than 10 mana-users in the group who could benefit from the buff.
Secondly, as a dyed-in-the-wool Spriest, I would love if proccing it was so easy as casting one spell! With 5 talent points in Improved Frostbolt, Frostbolt is a 2 second cast. Mage then spends 3 talent points in Enduring Winter. For an 8-point investment, you can proc Replenishment every 2 seconds! By casting a spell you'd be using anyway!
On the other hand, I can only proc it by casting Mind Blast while my Vampiric Touch DoT is up. Vampiric Touch (purchased for 1 talent point) is a 1.5 second cast and lasts 15 seconds. Mind Blast is a 1.5 second cast with an 8 second cooldown, reducable to 5.5 seconds via 5 talent points. I have invested 2 fewer talent points, but I can only proc Replenishment twice in a specific 15-second window, IF I'm paying attention, casting in the correct order, and managing my DoTs and GCDs well. Fights that involve a lot of movement hit Replenishment uptime hard. On trash pulls? Don't make me laugh, I have no time to get both of those spells off before that specific mob goes down. (Unless I pull a DPS no-no and specifically attack one of the unmarked mobs!)
Not QQing, I like both classes. (Spriests lost their glory when the old awesome Vampiric Touch was nerfed to Replenishment; at this point I don't really care who else gets access to it.) But I say cheer up, frost mages getting a straight-up gift here!
Kaeble Feb 25th 2009 11:39AM
Its a 2.5 second cast with talents. Look it up before you say anything. Secondly, other classes will have replenishment covered. You bring mages to dps so that leaves frost out in the cold for raiding. I would rather have a less boring rotation to give replenishment. It may be tougher for sp but at least you don't have to spam one button all the time. I have been doing that since vanilla wow. It has gotten old.
KJP Feb 25th 2009 10:15PM
What, no Polymorph: Cow?
I *demand* the right to cow my enemies! If only for the pun!