i was wondering what build is better. just started a new mage and learning arcane. not sure if Icy veins is correct or not but says Gem is better on 3+ targets ( aoe basically ) where as Harmony is good for 2 targets. Single target it says 1% difference only between the 2 but harmony i think pulls ahead?
Right now gem build is better. Harmony might be better later in the patch though.
Honestly? Neither. Harmony is such a chore to manage and it feels terrible spamming non CC AMs just to get those stacks. Also the talent nodes blocking it suck.
And the measly 5% spellpower buff from the Mana Gem is not worth the hassle of having to deal with an ability that is so user unfriendly. Maybe if they fix it to work like healthstones.
The Arcane tree just has no choice whatsoever. You basically pick between what will complicate your life the least or whatever will let you eke out another 1-2% DPS.
Sadly, this isn’t going to change much if things go live as they are on the 10.1.5 PTR right now but our AoE will dramatically improve and the new Orb Barrage capstone (which is really the old Mantle of the First Kirin Tor legendary from Legion) is going to be a lot of fun if nothing else. So there is that to look forward to at least. And of course the end of RoP! 
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Your overall hatred of arcane has been fully noted but could you refrain from unloading on people seeking actual advice.
You push a single extra button on every arcane surge.
So you’re saying it’s fun to have to use a macro to constantly delete the Mana Gem (or even worse do it manually) and sit there and have to hard cast it in the middle of longer boss fight in a raid when 3 charges are not enough or trail behind your M+ group while you do the same in between pulls? Every single person that has ever had to use the current version of Mana Gem knows how incredibly frustrating it is to use. It’s literally undisputed.
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It’s one extra bind so no I don’t have any issues with an extra bind.
I drop lock rocks all the time in keys.
I do t find it frustrating at all to use. I think you are trying to speak for people when it’s just your personal opinion.
All of which isn’t what the OP asked for.
Yeah, sure. Literally every Arcane guide out there lists how user unfriendly Mana Gem is as a major con and people have been asking for it to be changed to work like healthstones or be simply made into an ability rather than a conjured item for months now but I am making it up. 
It’s only a matter of time until they get around to fixing it (just like RoP) and when they do we can have this discussion again.
Never seen it complained about in a single guide I have watched. Feel free to link one.
And it already works like health stones.
Way to get defensive and ignore the point completely.
Omg! No it doesn’t. If you have charges left on your healthstone you can make or pick up another and it just refreshes it. You can’t conjure another mana gem while you have one already in your inventory. This means that before every boss fight you have to delete the one in your bags if it doesn’t have all 3 charges so you can conjure a fresh one and it’s annoying as all hell to do. Also there is no reason why mana gem shouldn’t just be an ability with the same cooldown since you can only ever use it yourself and can’t hand it out to other players like you can healthstones. How do you not see the problem with this? Or are you just being purposely obtuse.
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Use a macro. It’s super easy even for you to use.
You’re literally making mountains out of molehills in a thread asking which build was better.
You’re literally derailing a thread where someone asked a question because you’re here to cry about how you don’t like arcane.
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I this particular case, Keranthras is correct. Mana Gem technically doesn’t funciton the way it should. It’s a known bug that hasn’t been addressed. However, there’s an addon + macro combo that makes it function almost essentially the same way. If you refuse to use addons and macros, more power to you, but you’re missing out.
Also, I’ve never seen a guide complain about it. They just leave instructions on how to install the addon and manage it. Is it annoying? Yeah. Is it something that was working and they somehow broke it? Absolutely. Is it so bad the spec is unplayable? No. There’s nothing in arcane that’s so bad that it’s unplayable. Hence why people still play it…
In reality, I had been playing with the Harmony build for all of season 1. I was too lazy to switch it out for anything in any of the content I did. Everything now says that gem is better in ST and in AoE. So I swapped this week, and I gotta say, it feels better. Especially in M+.
I’m by no means doing well at the moment compared to other arcane mages (I’ve been parsing green and I’m not happy about it), but I don’t feel like I’m holding groups back. I’m often among the top dps in our raid, sandwiched between people who are parsing better than I am. But we’re also still learning, and I still have no season 2 tier set and only just got my Irideus Fragment post-raid. So maybe that’ll change next week.
In our M+ groups, I swapped to using an AoE gem build partway through this week (a fortified week) and I’m still the last of the dps, but I’m a lot closer to the others. Even before the switch, nobody in my group told me I wasn’t pulling my weight (I’m lucky in that department), but now that I’ve swapped I feel like I’m doing more to contribute. Even our AoE builds can have some pretty intense priority burst, which can do wonders in these runs. You don’t need to top the charts as long as the right adds are dying and being interrupted. The hardest part is just learning when to and not to pop cooldowns. With the gem build, there’s less ramp (or at least it feels that way to me), so it’s easier to pop them more frequently without messing up.
Mana gem is also easier to play, in my opinion. Even if they said that Arcane Harmony was 5% better, I’d wager a lot of people would still opt for the mana gem build. As much as I enjoy the idea behind harmony, Mana Gem plays a lot smoother and is a bit less punishing. So in all honesty, you can probably do either one for any content and get away with it. I enjoy Arcane Harmony, but I feel like the Mana Gem build is easier to play and smoother to operate.
I also think gem is better in mplus where you don’t have to worry about going into the next pack with full harmony charges.
My point was that it does function the same way lock cookie does with the only difference being you have to destroy the gem which I agree needs to be fixed.
The crafting a new one during a run isn’t an issue as when I play warlock I drop cookies on the trash between every boss.
Agree again. No idea where he is talking about it being complained about.
End of the day he can have his views on arcane but the OP was asking for a comparison between harmony and gem not a journal entry about how both are awful.
Of course I am, I am always right. LOL, just kidding! For me it’s a question of principles. This game is a product, something I pay for initially (every expansion) and then continuously (every month) so I expect to get a fully functional game, not one that I have to supplement and augment with third party software just to get basic functionality.
The reason I first started playing Blizzard games is precisely because they used to put out polished product. That obviously isn’t the case anymore and hasn’t been for years. So from my perspective I am perfectly justified in demanding a better product. If that makes me annoying I can live with that but if this forum isn’t for customer/player feedback then what is it for?
And as far as addons and macros go, Blizzard know very well that many players don’t use addons and don’t know how to make macros or even what they are. It’s also one thing to download a purely optional addon that makes your life easier like DBM or brightens up your screen like SexyMaps and another entirely when you have to go out of your way to have to fix things that shouldn’t be broken in the first place. You know what I mean? If I buy a laptop and want to make it pretty by buying stickers that’s on me; but if the keyboard isn’t working the way it’s supposed to that’s on the manufacturer.
This is a valid take and it’s great that you’re willing to put up with all of that but I am just not and that’s valid too. Hence why I am constantly on here trying to change things.
Definitely but it can be even better if they fix what’s so obviously broken. Well I guess not entirely obvious to everybody…
Well I happen to disagree with that completely. When being asked to choose between two things it is perfectly valid to tell someone that both options are bad. They can then infer from that whatever they want. Whether it’s to just pick the lesser or the two evils or something else entirely. This is like a product review on Amazon. OP is asking if he should buy Harmony or Mana Gem and I am telling him I’ve tried each and in my view they both suck.
And, for the record, as far as I am concerned there is no “Harmony Build” or “Mana Gem Build.” They’re basically the exact same build with such small variation that it really shouldn’t be considered a separate build. That’s a problem in of itself because the Arcane talent tree provides no meaningful choice or build diversity.
I agree. Mana Gem is easy to manage. Get the addon and you can cast a new gem whenever you want. You can even cast it while moving with floes between packs or when approaching a boss.
Are you serious?
That is your opinion, you do know what anecdotal means right? Also he didnt ask how both buiulds are doing. He asked which one was better.
And you are still wrong.
Deadly serious. You realize there are a ton of people out there that play without any addon and don’t use any macros, right? Also it may not even occur to folks that the thing is broken in the first place and that there is something they can do to alleviate the hassle. Most people just play the game as is, with all the struggle that entails.
I really don’t understand these asinine fake shock and outrage comments when people bring up perfectly valid points about overlooked bugs in the game. You can call it complaining if you like but we all pay Blizzard to keep this game running smoothly, not third parties, and it’s on them to fix this stuff not on us to constantly struggle patching it up ourselves.
Y’all do understand that if there was nothing wrong with how Mana Gem operates there wouldn’t be addons and macros that address it… right?
The game should be playable without requiring addons. Mana gem can be dealt with if you use an addon and macro, so for an experienced player maybe not a huge problem. However, it’s still bad game design.
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Honestly mana gem would be fine if they upped the charges to like 5. Kerathras is right, having to stop and reconjure the dam thing in the middle of a boss fight is aids.
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Why wouldn’t you create a new gem before the boss fight? Like this is basic common sense.
It’s not gems design flaw if you wait till mid boss fight to create a new one.