The removal of double-dipping on the Burden of Power Hero Talent is certainly a choice. This talent enabled a smooth rotation that actually used Arcane Barrage, instead of simply spamming Arcane blast (terrible feeling filler spell) till you were out of mana. It added depth to the rotation and allowed skilled players to maximize their output through careful planning and execution. By removing the double-dip, you’ve taken away an important aspect of that gameplay loop that is so important to many players, making the spec feel more one-dimensional and less rewarding.
Let’s talk about the inconsistency here: Recently you removed NP double dipping and within a small time period walked it back, claiming you “understood” the depth of the change and its impact. Make no mistake, NP and Burden, are in the same category of buffs, and should be treated the same. Taking away the ability to maximize Burden of Power through smart gameplay diminishes the specs newly found design post TWW rework. Yes, Sunfury was incredibly strong, but it was also rewarding and for once and arcane finally had some depth to its rotation. These changes were not the right approach, did the spec and hero talent need nerfs? yes. Did it need its rotation changed? no
This “Double-Dip” refers to consuming the Burden of Power buff (Buffs Blast and Barrage) with Arcane Blast and while you cast this spell you would queue a Arcane Barrage(simply by hitting barrage keybind, like you would queue any spell) at the end so both get buffs. The interaction of double dipping in WoW class design history is fairly common and has been a big part of Arcane’s kit for last 3-4 years.
They are probably going to say it was a bug. But they still haven’t fixed Magi’s Spark with arcane missile interaction (only the very first hit gets echo’d, instead of all 8 missiles).
You already tried to remove double dipping nether precision and you canceled that change… Back when you did that, mages on beta were ALREADY double dipping on Burden of Power so I don’t understand. Why would you keep one but not the other?
Fix how spellquueing works across ALL your specs, make it consistent. Or bring back double dipping Burden of Power honestly, which is my preference… It’s a fun gameplay. Tweak numbers all you want, don’t kill fun gameplay.
If the goal is to better integrate ABarr into the ST rotation there are much better ways to do that than tagging it onto every other NP AB via spell queueing. A much better solution than resorting to these gimmicks would be to simply redesign the NP proc by doubling down its empowerment of ABarr rather than AB since everyone likes to cast the former but hates to spam the latter. Making NP refund ABarr’s Arcane Charges would be one such way. This new mechanic is one of the highlights of TWW Arcane so why not double down on it?
I am beginning to prep another toon to switch mains “just in case” and if I can’t find the fun I have been having with arcane this season then it might lead to the first time I quit WoW due to a decision like this being made.
I couldn’t care less if it was just a numbers nerf, but to change the gameplay… tisk tisk.
What is it there to prep? Right now upgrading your gear past 570 is just wasting valor or condemning yourself to the purgatory that is heroic dungeon farming. All of that effort for the slightest edge during your first M0 world tour… I just don’t get it. Your time right now is much better spent just leveling alts regardless of whether or not you end up switching mains.
This completely changes the entire gameplay of how that spec operates. Things like this is what beta is literally used for. Making this large of a change a week after release is a standard clown move from Blizz, and it’s absolutely not the proper correction if they wanted to adjust the damage being done.
Arcane Mage has a quite complicated rotation to hit in order to pump those kinds of numbers. You act like they were pressing 1-2 buttons and achieving that. Wild comment coming from a Hunter.
Of course it had to be a hunter who came to qq about dps on a mage’s thread while they be killing everybody with 3 spells that do 800k/1.2m damage on cloth.