Wrath was Arcane's chance to be in the spotlight after being the laughing stock for so many years, in the same way Beastmastery was both stupid easy and awesome in BC. Blizz brought the hammer down on BMs pretty hard and they still haven't recovered because of the stated reason that anything so easy to play should not do so well.

In the face of all this was the two (or even one button) Arcane mage. But instead of swining the nerf hammer, Blizzard decided to get creative, they are letting you guys keep your two buttons, but you're going to have to work for it. This Mastery bonus is house-cleaning pure and simple.

The mages that need something a little stronger than an intellect buff will become frustrated and switch to a less complicated spec. The mages that are just following the fad specs of whatever Elitist jerks says is best will move back to Fire or even Frost. The die-hard arcane mages who played Arcane before it was cool (Indies, if you will), will consider themselves rewarded with something interesting to consider while they cast a brand new rotation.

I agree with some of your conditions, like that 100% mana shouldn't mean 100% damage. And most of the rest seem to be about taking the bristles out of the broom, or at least searching for understanding. Again I think the point is to actually put a brain into the spec and make it the intelligent mages's choice to play. I don't think it's a punishment, just a much needed complication.

And i'm reading that last dev quote to mean that Arcane will be self-interupting their own spells to recycle mana. Surely, there will be a talent to boost the returning mana's value and the note about missed spells is more for the leveling arcane mage missing their shots than something a raider would ever dare consider.

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