Hi everyone!
My name is Fitzban and I have played Arcane almost exclusively as my main since 2011. I participate in all the content WoW has to offer, including Arenas, M+, and Mythic raiding. I even have my Spelltome mount! While I have tried the other Mage specs, Arcane is by far my favorite and I probably would not be playing Mage at all if it didn’t exist.
Our spec is pretty good in PvE, but I’m writing this post in regards to our PvP performance. This season I reached Duelist as Arcane for the first time ever. It was not easy. In fact, being 2167 in 3s and 2099 in 2s (I know) actually puts me in the top 30 Arcane players in NA - something that is a lot less impressive than it might sound as Arcane is currently the least played spec in arena (Source: Drustvar). I am by no means an expert PvP player, but when a spec’s representation on the leaderboards is 0.2% (Source: LudusLabs), it’s not exactly difficult if you have the patience to spend half of your time playing locked out of your only casting school.
With that being said, I would like this post to serve as megathread of sorts for brainstorming and constructive feedback about Arcane in PvP. I know I am not the first to do this - but I don’t know where else to turn to make my voice heard. I am not a game designer, but here are some ideas I’ve come up with to alleviate the frustration of playing the spec in PvP:
- Allow [Presence of Mind] to be used to cast Polymorph like it was back in previous expansions. This was a great piece of Arcane flavor that was maybe a bit too strong, but it would be nice to be able to use it on something other than just Arcane Blast. Right now Arcane can be locked out of casting when using offensive spells or CC, as opposed to the other mage specs who can keep doing damage if they’re kicked while casting Polymorph.
- Make [Arcane Orb] baseline. With the removal of [Charged Up], taking the Arcane Orb talent has become mandatory. Yes, [Touch of the Magi] does provide 4 charges, but it is not an instant cast and therefore is easily interrupted by a Shaman, whose [Wind Shear] is already a stronger version of [Counterspell].
- Turn [Supernova] into a small stun or give Arcane access to [Dragon’s Breath]. Not sure which would be more fair, maybe a shorter 2 second stun on Supernova instead of the 4 second DB would be better. That would allow Fire Mages to keep their unique spell, but as it stands Fire can cast Frost Nova, Ice Block, and Ring of Frost… so I don’t see why an Arcane mage shouldn’t have access to Dragon’s Breath. Lorewise, Mages use Arcane magic to cast every spell, even those that use Fire and Frost. It makes sense that an Arcane Mage would have a larger toolbox than a more specialized caster.
Please let me know what you think and feel free to add your own suggestions below. Thank you for reading, you rock!
13 Likes
Hi!
Most of these suggestions are very good, but I also have several additions:
- If Presence of Mind is used on Polymorph, it should use only 2 charges of 3. This will still block possibility to use instant Polymorph twice in a row, but would leave a possibility to use at least a single instant Arcane Blast hit to follow, so you can deal at least some damage into this setup without risk of getting insta-locked on Arcane.
- Supernova with 2 sec stun is not very good, it would work almost as it works now (currently it makes enemies jump for about 1-1.5 seconds), but would also put all of them on stun dr and can be harmful to comps with stuns. Also, 2 sec stun with GCD taken into account actually leaves you 0.5-0.8 sec to do something (depending on your Haste) and is just not enough to cast anything. That is why I think Supernova is better to be made baseline and stay as a mass interrupt ability (they should just also give it an additional 0.5 sec stun that ignores DR to affect enemies that aren’t interrupted by moving) and they should give some better and longer duration instant CC to Arcane Mages as well. Not sure whether I want them to receive Dragon’s Breath though - it does not fit the spec thematically and will cause flood of complaints on the forums. I think abilities like suggested Gravity Void or Arcane Singularity fit better for a master of gravity, space and time. Link to these suggestions here (to avoid more copypaste):
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/arcane-in-next-expansion/1178472/2
1 Like
I’ve always been annoyed that an ability named Supernova has an unimpressive animation, does low damage, and does not hurl players in all directions. It should just be renamed Arcane Startle. It’s like using a concealed air horn in a crowd of people.
3 Likes
Good variant for its name is Arcane Trampoline. Currently, this ability actually makes enemies jump a bit higher than usual and deals less damage than falling from about the same height.
On a more serious note, yes, its damage definitely should be buffed, at least for main target.
Making it baseline would also be appreciated since Arcane Orb is required
Supernova should cause falling damage.
Give arcane mages mana burn. That way they will have something really advantageous.
Imo [Supernova] should be made baseline with a 0.1s stun not in the stun DR so that it can be used as a ranged pseudo-interrupt for both PvP and PvE. I’d also like for that to be given a different name since it really doesn’t fit the name Supernova, and if it’s going to be used as CC/utility, then damage should be separate. Maybe rename it to [Revert Gravity] in homage to Kael’thas’ encounter in Tempest Keep.
On another note, how do you guys feel about making a [Supernova] spell that acts as follows:
- Uninterruptible channeling that’s ground targeted AoE.
- Stuns enemies and pulls them to the center during the channel.
- At the end of the channel it then explodes for the bulk of its damage.
I thought of making it uninterruptible to try and address a bit of Arcane’s weakness to interrupts, but that may be too powerful considering what the spell can do. I feel that only a spell like that would be able to make the name [Supernova] justice though.
Your idea is interesting, but don’t forget that grey cast bar is still vulnerable to disorients, incaps and stuns, leaving lots of way for enemy players to stop it. This both justifies making this channel uninterruptible and against that treatment in general as it is still very easy to counter. I think a “black hole” type ability with small (or maybe even no cast time, after all Spear of Bastion, Abomination Limb and Ursol Vortex are all instant) that interrupts, pulls enemies in the area to the center and slows afterwards could be better - it does not break CC DRs for your teammates, it is not to be considered OP even compared to abilities mentioned above, it fits the spec who can manipulate space and time and it still allows Arcane Mage to participate in damaging or CCing enemies pulled by the singularity instead of just channeling this effect.
Yeah I wanted to make it a nice unique ability that would be decently strong on its own, but also offer means of counter-play as in hard CC or Leap of Faith. I think it fits very well into the Arcane theme and does justice to the [Supernova] name and could even be effectively used in PvE and incorporated into the rotation (maybe the stun needs to be revised because tying utility and damage to the same ability has proven to be poor design in the past). Maybe a talent that removes the stun and increase the damage in the place where the previous [Supernova] used to be.
One might think that’s too much CC for Arcane that supposedly currently has none bar Polymorph, but I think having a modest amount of CC is justifiable if we’re going to have many other channeling spells to kind of offset it with one of them even being a channel itself.
I’ll probably create a more dedicated thread in the future for spells I find cool if they were added as well as some changes to already existing ones like talent revamps and whatnot.
I don’t think making the clearcasting proc chance from 1% to even 2% (maybe just in PVP?) would break the game for starters. Mad disrespectful passive lol
I’ve always thought arcane should have some kind of time stop ability.
Idk if it would be a stun per say, maybe a banish or something like imprison.
It would just be cool to have a big warrior charge at you, and you could just snap your fingers to freeze him in time for a bit.
Don’t know how strong it would be but I would have lots of fun using it
1 Like
Mana burn is gross. There’s a reason they removed it from everyone, tried to bring it back for Demon Hunters through Mana Rift and then removed it again.
it would be fantastic something like a rogue skill, that spends 4 charges and stun in time, it wouldn’t be op i think because you trading 4 charges
“Absorb Mana.” Would fit the fantasy kinda well haha.