The reason why Fire isn't considered a PvP spec in WotLK is because it doesn't have the control and survivability of Frost/Arcane or Arcane/Frost. However that's mostly because of Arena. Fire has always been usable in Battlegrounds because a talent spec is less important in Pugs than it is in a specifically orchestrated Arena Team like the ever popular Rogue/Mage/Priest.

I looked through your talent tree and made some revisions.

http://cata.wowhead.com/talent#obcG0uobhaZfVcbsbIoVuohst

Mostly I moved around first tier talents that didn't mesh well or are unnecessary.

In Arcane you chose Arcane Focus over Improved Missiles. I would argue against that because of the same reasons you've already mentioned about mana. Burst is supposed to be less important in Cataclysm but we don't have much to go on at the moment, so until we know for sure I wouldn't put a lot of importance in mana efficiency. Instead I'm going to put points into Improved Missiles so that if I'm locked out of Fire, or casting Frost Bolt, I will have more powerful missiles.

Moving down the tree.

Arcane Repulsion, this talent I changed to 1 point, and put 1 point into Focus Magic. Arcane Repulsion will surely be a nice talent but we don't really need more than 2 seconds and 4 yards do we?

As for Focus Magic, well extra crit speaks for itself doesn't it? Okay well if it doesn't than consider how useful this is coupled with Hot Streak. Besides the healer you throw this on will love you. Yeah you're fire, you want to stay stuck to a healers hip, might as well give them a reason to like you.

Arcane Mind 4 points. This isn't throw away. This isn't throw away because Int = Sp in Cataclysm. So this means more damage, and more mana, and maybe more crit but crit may no longer be effected by Int in Cataclysm so who knows. But we do know you get spellpower from Int.

On to fire.

Removed Improved Fireball for a few reasons.

One, you won't be using fireball.

If you're talented with Hot Streak, you're going to want to be using Scorch and Fire Blast for those insane instant Pyroblasts [followed by a second insane POM-PB :) ].

Two, a shorter cool down on Fire Blast is just great in PvP. And as said above more ideal for Hot Streak than Fireball.

Three Incineration = all crits, all the time. Which is again great for Hot Streak.

Okay moving down the list.

Removed the points in Burning Soul and Impact, some of those points went to Arcane Mind. Three points went into Critical Mass, because this has better synergy with Hot Streak-PB. I've never once in a pvp situation thought to myself, "Gee I wish I had taken those push back talents." Maybe I'm the only one but I've never seen them useful for PvP.

The remainder of the Fire talent points were chosen with utility in mind, and the fact that there just aren't that many opportunities outside of the Warsong Flag room or choke points in Alterac Valley to use things like flame strike. So I avoided those talents as well.

I did switch out Fiery Payback in favor of Pyromaniac because that added spell haste, that should theoretically always be up if you're dotting things, will be more useful than a reduced cast time for Pyroblast, especially if the entire talent set up is to take advantage of Hot Streak. It means you can weight your gear around needing less haste. Heck even besides that that 15% haste is just nice and less situational than Fiery Payback.

Anyway, that's my two copper. I pass the torch back to you Anonymous.

I thought they changed POM so it couldn't be used with PB?
I was actually attacked by a fire mage in EotS today. It was very strange. I killed it of course because they have no real defense but they can still dish out a bit of damage with the insta pyros.

Thanks to input from Luke, I've updated my PvP build again:

http://cata.wowhead.com/talent#of0G0G0bhoZfVsfsbcoVubGst

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Arcane:

The reason I didn't take Improved Missiles is because with this build, you will never cast Arcane Missiles so these 3 points spent here are a waste. If you invest in Hot Streak then it says your Fire spells will no longer trigger Arcane Missiles. If you look at the description of Arcane Missiles you'll see that this spell cannot be cast whenever you want, but has a 30% chance to "activate" when you cast other spells:

http://cata.wowhead.com/spell=5143

While it's true you might cast a non-Fire spell and get AM to "activate" it seems rare and thus investing these 3 points into Arcane Focus (and I have no idea how often spells are going to be resisted but to put these 3 points in any other place makes no sense) is the only logical thing to do in my opinion.

I didn't put a point in Focus Magic because I don't now (for PvP) because I found that the only time I used it was before the battle began -- that ONE time when I could examine those in my group and assign it properly. In the heat of battle when I get resurrected, I buff myself and start killing and there isn't always a worthy friend nearby to receive this spell. It's a great spell, but using it in PvP is something I find difficult so I specced out of it.

While I'm a friend of Arcane Mind (my current PvP spec is deep arcane and I have this filled out 5/5) I think its use here is less optimal then investing more deeply in the primary tree which is Fire. I've always felt that talent builds should emphasize a single tree very deeply, then build on that with 11 (Icy Veins) or 21 (PoM) invested in another tree. Anyhow, yes you would gain more int which means a larger mana pool and more spell power and possibly more crit as it does now, but I put these points into Fire.

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Fire:

I appreciate your input and agree that Fireball is likely never to be cast and thus I moved the 5 points in the first tier to the others. I love a shorter cooldown on Fire Blast since it is so powerful now (41 yard range now and with Impact procced, a 2 second stun which I am still going with) and more crit on Fire Blast and Scorch is pure win as you said. Not using Fireball provides a stealthier approach since Fire Blast and Scorch instantly hit their target and make it difficult for your opponent to know where it came from (which is why I PvP with Arcane now since Arcane Blast is similarly anonymous). Only when Hot Streak procs or you can PoM pyro do you give your position away.

I put my last talent point into Burning Soul because you will take damage while casting and I think this might really help. I invested heavily in my current Arcane PvP build to get a similar benefit and I think it's really beneficial.

I'm sticking with Impact since we will be casting Fire Blast a lot (reduced cooldown). A stun is so powerful not only because the person is incapacitated for 2 seconds but because when it lands they might have been mid-cast -- it's like a bonus Counterspell. If a healer is targeted and was about to complete a large heal, this is huge and can turn the tide and lead to their death. It's also really annoying for them and disorienting. Convince me not to invest here if you dare!

The problem with Critical Mass is that I think it's primarily a PvE talent. We won't be casting Fireball or Frostfire Bolt in PvP and thus this talent only benefits Pyroblast which is why I'm passing on it.

I removed the points in Blazing Speed because a 10% chance to proc is just not enough.

I fully invested in Pyromaniac because I'm optimistic I will be able to get DoTs hitting 3 or more targets in PvP. I usually concentrate on one target, but the synergy with the 2 points invested in Firestarter to instantly (and zero mana) put Flamestrike under a group of opponents makes me think I can get this to benefit me much more easily. So much so, that I might even consider casting Blast Wave or Dragon's Breath at NO TARGET just to proc the instant and free Flamestrike to get the 15% haste. Yes, I'm crazy like that.

I really like Molten Fury because it seems like your opponent gets so close to death then escapes -- I want my spells to finish you off in PvP right now so getting a 12% damage bonus when they are under 35% health seems like a no-brainer for PvP to me.

I removed the points in Fiery Payback because it just doesn't seem so beneficial as I first thought. Reducing damage by 20% is nice but I've pretty much given up survivability with a Fire build (with Arcane I have instant cast invisibility, Prismatic Cloak, improved mana shield, improved resistances and on and on). Making Pyroblast cast faster is nice, but likely not to change the outcome when you're looking death in the face (PoM pyro is called for at this point). And a small chance for your enemy to be disarmed... well, what if your enemy is a spell caster? Not going to make much of a difference.

Firestarter is an experiment but it offers synergy with many other Fire talents that I find it very interesting. Time will tell, but I'm keeping it there for now.

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All in all, a good learning experience and thank you for your comments. I think the build got much better. I look forward to anyone's comments to improve a Fire PvP build and hope Mr. Belt might join in with his wisdom now or in a future column.

Thanks for reading!

I think they'll decide to switch Critical Mass and Playing With Fire, though they could decide to unlink them from Combustion altogether, which would be even cooler.

As for Combustion itself, it sounds awesome. You get a crit on the target plus Ignite, as you said, but then because of Fire's Mastery, any other spell you cast on the target* gets combined into the Combustion dot... thus clearing space for more Mastery dots! You get a longer 10 second dot, plus another set of dots, more than doubling your dot damage on the target! Sexy.

*Does Living Bomb count? If it does assimilate Living Bomb, does that count as a dispel?
... would using Combustion cause a Living Bomb explosion on top of everything else? Fear my pyromaniac power!


And as for using Fire in PvP, sure, most people don't do it because it isn't as efficient as Arcane or Frost, but people do it even now because of its crazy playstyle. With the changes to Imp Scorch, range on Fire Blast, Flame Orb, and being able to grab Arcane Repulsion... wow. You may see viable Fire builds. Sure, it won't be as efficient as Arcane or Frost even still, but the gap has been narrowed.