Totally nice column. I wonder if the delayed damage will all come at once, or just 3 seconds after it was done...

Scenario:
Fireball at Sheeped target
2nd Fireball at sheeped target

Now, will there be the damage of 2 arcane blasts be instantly dealed in 3 seconds, or will there be a short delay...?

MORE WARLOCK HATE!!!

On another note... Awesome new talents. And I'm glad that Frost is looking more and more PvE plausible. It is also looking better PvP as well.

Arcane is now looking a bit "meh" though...

Fire looks a bit forgotten, but we will need to see how the new Flame Orb works before I can comment on that one.

I'd be really surprised at any Arcane Blast damage occurring at all, since you just cast 2 Fireballs...

Whether each occurrence of incoming damage during the 3 seconds since the first event will be 3 seconds delayed, or if there are 3 seconds to stack damage which will then be dealt all at once, I don't know. I do know I would give my firstborn for the latter though :)

Damn it. I'm rolling a shammy in this expansion but I have a sneaky my Mage will still be my main.

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

Ok, this is a long post to bring to your attention some of the confusion I have with the talent tree...

1. If they are doing away with spell power, why is there still spell power in the tree?
2. There are 32 different talents in the arc tree, a total of 82 points. 28 talents in fire, a total of 74 points, and 29 talents in the frost tree, totaling 73 talents. I hope they will bring this to a more equal number.
3. The talent for arcane missiles said casting time reduced by 1.5 sec, casting every 0.5 sec. Well, 5 sec MINUS 1.5 sec = 3.5 sec... casting every 0.5 sec = 7 missiles...
4. The new Arcane Barrage DOES NOT consume the effect of ARCANE BLAST... ummm... ok...
5. LOL @ Arcane Empowerment...
Rank 1 is Arc Missiles x 25%, Arc Blast x 5%
Rank 2 is Arc Missiles x 50%, Arc Blast x 10%
Rank 3 is Arc Missiles x 45%, Arc Blast x 9%
6. Arcane Meditation seems overpowered as it is a MANA increase AND DPS increase (if arc spec)
7. Arcane Stability + Arcane Instability = FAIL!!

I hope things can be clarified.

@ danage
1. SP is still a stat it just comes from in and SP will exist on caster weapons
2.it is beta changes will most likely be made
and 5 looks like a bug
6. don't make assumptions wait and call overpowered till you know more
7. lol indeed but they may not have gotten around to removing/renaming ect...

1. If they are doing away with spell power, why is there still spell power in the tree?

There is no Spellpower on gear (except weapons), spellpower as a concept still exists

3. The talent for arcane missiles said casting time reduced by 1.5 sec, casting every 0.5 sec. Well, 5 sec MINUS 1.5 sec = 3.5 sec... casting every 0.5 sec = 7 missiles...

Arcance Missiles is now a 3 second base spell - 1 wave of missiles every second. So talented, it is a 1.5 second spell, still 3 waves of missiles, only faster.

4. The new Arcane Barrage DOES NOT consume the effect of ARCANE BLAST... ummm... ok...

Plus it has a 100% chance to proc Missile Barrage - double bonus

6. Arcane Meditation seems overpowered as it is a MANA increase AND DPS increase (if arc spec)

All it does is allow you to regenerate mana whilst casting. This may keep your mana adept coefficient higher longer,....but the rate you are casting far outweighs the mana regen.

7. Arcane Stability + Arcane Instability = FAIL!!

I disagree, arcane instability is awesome. raid-wide damage goes out and pushes your cast back and you get rewarded a spellpower buff for it. First boss in Blackrock Caverns does this earthquake AoE that keeps that buff up all the time. This is one of those getting a choice things. I see PvP mages taking the Stability, since they can't afford the time of pushback, and PvE mages taking instability.

@Danage: While they will be removing spell power from (most) gear, it will still exist as a stat in the game. The difference is that just like Attack power is based on Strength or Agility (depending on class), Spell Power will now be based mainly on your Intellect. But just like there are buffs in the game that increase Attack Power without going via Str or Agi (e.g. Abomination's Might, Fish Feast), there will be buffs that increase Spell Power without going via Int (e.g. Flametongue Totem, Fish Feast again).

I just tested it in the beta and as it is now it seems that damage from the delayed polymorph will stack up and all of the damage in that three seconds will be dealt at the same time, three seconds after the initial damage.

The arcane tree in beta is more bloated than ever. Seems like it will get refined further on down, but I'm honestly not as optimistic as Christian about it.

One thing I noticed was the arcane missiles talent. I remember blizz saying they want all mages using arcane missiles in their rotation. I have to wonder if that's why that 1st tier talent is in there.

@timmy
'Plus it has a 100% chance to proc Missile Barrage - double bonus'
Wait, what? Which talent does it say that in?

@Annuilae - It's in the Missile Barrage talent. ABG now has a 100% chance to proc MB, and no longer consumes your AB stacks. Additionally it looks like its base damage has been MASSIVELY buffed; currently the talent reads "386-470 Arcane damage", while in the beta it reads "1124 to 1372 Arcane damage".

So Barrage has recieved a massive buff, and may be an actual part of our rotation; or at least a situational one. I see it as being used a. when we have to move (with no downside!), or b. When we've stacked Blast to 4 with no proc. A quick Barrage will solve that.