"We've never [...] had access to a spell that's useful both as an AoE spell and as a PvE-rotation-viable single-target spell [...] The closest we've come is probably Living Bomb, [...] that is severely limited in its AoE capabilities."

Calling bullshit on this one. Living bomb is *HUGE* AoE on middle-to-big packs*. Tab target bombs onto everything in range is the best AoE damage for mages if targets live long enough for the explosions, and pushing best in the game. Bomb everything, flamestrike max and one down, repeat. Details vary with number of targets but bombs going off will proc endless hotstreaks, use one to speed a flamestrike, re-bomb.

Flame orb may be problematic both breaking CC and if there is a lot more movement (as new talents strongly suggest). Aiming will likely be tricky. Both problems more so in PvP: In PvP people will, you know, not stand still near the giant roiling thing headed their way. Competent ones anyway.

I'd be more interested in fire's mastery if they had fixed fire's DoTs. First rolling huge, then munching, tons of bugs in both. Five years and it's never worked properly.

The new burnout makes little sense to me; they've said several times mana should be mostly a non-issue for DPS so a talent to use health for mana is odd. Warlocks have always been balanced around that mechanic--their base spell costs are high so draining the minion or health tapping is required. (They also don't have gems or evo.)

Arcane's is super weird. They obviously want to put mana management back in for the spec (despite the overall statements to the contrary) but it's difficult to imagine it tuned well. If it makes it live arcane will wobble all over best DPS to junk as they fiddle--and expect a nerf later as folk are geared up and mana again is truly not an issue.

Meh. It's too early. Blizzard's chucking whatever cool stuff they've thought up at the wall to see what works. I'm mostly worried about haste capping both early gear and late in Cat. Mages can currently mostly dodge haste capping by not stacking procs/cooldowns but a lot of other classes/specs easily crit and/or haste cap. Boomkin, enhance and elemental shaman, and holy pallies come to mind. Extremely high haste also punishes those with higher latency. Switch your arcane mage to frost. Cry once because of the lousy DPS then cry again when you miss a deep freeze proc because of a combination server/client weirdness + latency and the DPS drives off a cliff and explodes in a valley in southern California killing a lot of non-fight related endangered toads. Not that Deep Freeze is a kludge eight million ways to Sunday or anything.

*It's also God's gift to non-PvP mages doing WG weeklies. Bomb everything while running in circles like seven year old girl scared of a spider, die, rez, repeat.

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