Right now Arcane Blast starts at baseline 2.25 second cast time reducing to a baseline of about 1.5 seconds with 4 arcane charges.
IMO it should instead be instant at zero charges and 1.5 seconds at 4 charges.
Lets be honest, this probably would not cause any significant change to Arcane Mages dps as we try to spend most of our time at max charges whenever possible. However it would make us slightly more mobile and slightly better at pvp and reduce our ramp up time.
Not to mention that it would make using Arcane Barrage both easier and more worthwhile, further increasing mobility and our ranged AoE/Cleave abilities.
From a lore perspective instead of powering up to rapid fire we would be powering up to slower, more powerful blasts of raw arcane energy.
A 4 charge arcane blast is already penalized heavily for it’s extra mana cost. Your idea would penalizes it further by adding to it’s cast time relative to a 0-charge arcane blast.
Relative to the 0-charge sure… but it (4-charge ABlast) would still play the same as currently. Given the high damage each individual Arcane Blast strike gives I am not sure what your complaint is.
I don’t see it so much as penalization as power build up. The more arcane charges, the more power you are channeling and the more difficult it becomes.
Honestly I first read this incorrectly and thought you were saying flat out reduce the cast time and make instant at 4 charges but I see that it was just poor reading comprehension and you were actually speaking about the reverse.
I do see where you are coming from although I believe that what you have suggested is a bit OP. I agree thematically charging up slower more powerful blasts does seem like it would fit.
Perhaps zero is 1.25s and 4 is 2s would be more reasonable?
I still think it would be a balancing nightmare though. The reduced cast time on the lower charges with low mana cost would probably offset the increased damage but slower high charge casts, unless the charged spell was buffed further.
The biggest issue towards PvP which I see with your initial proposal is that you could literally just Arcane Blast > Arcane Barrage > Arcane Blast > Arcane Barrage ad infinitum. Everything would permanently be instant cast and you would be unstoppable.
I misread this one at first, but honestly we already have charged up which, aside from being on the gcd (which it really doesn’t need to be) already gets us to 4 charges quickly, would probably be overpowered in pvp. They love to nerf arcane quickly in that area as it is.
In any event, arcane has way more pressing problems than getting to 4 charges rapidly. We suffer more from movement than any other spec (which I admit your change would help), have next to no cleave, unsustainable aoe, are the single most azerite trait-reliant spec in game and are one trick ponies compared to other classes and specs.
All else being equal, instant cast and 1.5 second cast have the same dps. This is because the global cooldown (GCD) for mage spells is 1.5 seconds before haste.
I honestly do not think it would be OP. Even in pvp, sure we would have perpetual instant casts, but for the most part they would hit like a wet noodle.
Also the “offset” you refer too would imo make the spec more interesting to play by giving us more decisions to make based on what part of the fight we are in. I do not think the offset would be enough to counteract the benefits of the burst a fully charged ABlast delivers. We would just have a little more ability to choose when we want it.
Arcane has a lot of problems. I am just trying to make it a little bittle bit better. This idea would also hopefully help with our cleave as a fully charged ABarrage would be castable far more often and more worthwhile to cast.
Sure… but as you said that is before haste, and instant cast with a 1.5 second cd is infinitely more agile in use than a 1.5 second cast with no cd.
I misread your post thinking you wanted the 4 charges cast to be 2.25 seconds.
I think this would be an interesting idea, the only problem I can think of on top of my head was already started by Haavi.
It would not deal crazy DPS or anything but a constant slow on a melee and a movement speed increase for you would be a little much. I’m pretty sure the melee classes would be up in arms the day a change like this happens.
You can do it now but the DPS won’t be as high as with your changes.