it is so obvious they have no idea why they invented this spell. There is no more any any reason to pick it. Reducing cast time per charge makes no sense because this spell is not really worth to be casted at 4 charges given the high mana cost and also because at 4 charges reverberate loses the bonus of generating two additional arcane charges. It was only interesting as opening, or in pvp it can be used in a sequence pulse barrage pulse barrage and so on. Still better to start with pulse and then switch but it is not worth 2 talent points. Aslo given how bad the snare is currently in pvp barrage needs to be spammed which means starting from 0 arcane charges all the time basically, blast is very slow in generating arcane charges and this is where pulse was good. IF SOMETHING REDUCE BLAST CAST TIME TO MATCH ARCANE PULSE
You’ve hit the nail on the head. It’s weird that they’re framing it as an alternate to Arcane Blast when the talents set it up as an alternate to Arcane Explosion. Getting to cast it to quickly refill charges is the only reason we’re using it atm.
Also crazy that it’s the only Arcane change when there’s so many other more pressing issues.
yep like pyrocosm 5% clearcating proc literally just not working at all already a month
A shame really, such a beautiful spell. I actually had a suggestion many weeks or months ago, having a “reverse” arcane charge mechanic. It would be an instant or near instant cast at zero charges, and get progressively longer to cast with more charges. As a quick way to generate arcane charges and a “weakish” ranged Arcane Explosion.
I reported this bug back in beta and still no fix, wild, really ruins the flow of Sunfury when you are clearcast starved outside of burst window
They have absolutely no idea what to do with the entire spec, period.
After almost an entire expansion of fighting them tooth and nail on every little change, towards the end of TWW we finally got them to leave Arcane in a decent, good even, state for perhaps the first time since Legion and then they promptly destroyed it in Midnight.
I’ve mained Arcane exclusively for more than 2 decades, through thick and thin, and this is the first time ever I am starting an expansion maining a different Mage spec and was this close 
to maining a different class entirely except they did a number on virtually all of them.
If it wasn’t for the revamped Silvermoon and Eversong plus housing I wouldn’t have bought the expansion at all. Idk who is in charge of these decisions but they’re eviscerating the game!
Arcane pulse is an amazing spell to use. If your not taking it, your aoe will seriously suffer. This latest change is indeed annoying. By giving it a longer cast time and charges shortening the cast, they are essentially making it more frustrating to use along with Arcane Barrage. But I guess in the long run, it is no different than arcane blast. same cast time with reduction per charge.
I am really socked to hear this Kerathras. You are known to be a die hard arcane fan. I thought you would love this new build considering it is not arcane blast spamming now. Have you tried spellslinger? In that build, all you do is build up 4 charges which is 2 spell casts of either arc blast or pulse than use orb first, then missile anytime orb is on cd for clear casting. Then use barrage at 20 stacks of salvo which happens fast. Then repeat weaving in surge and touch. Not only is this build eye appealing with all those orbs being launched, arcane aoe is in its best place since ever. This new change doesn’t really impact it that much. it just makes pulse work similar to blast. Arcane mages should be stacking both haste and crit with mastery as its main stat focus to avoid having to use evocation. The 2 percent mana returns from barrage and the arcane familiar giving mana back should be sustainable with enough mastery.
It isn’t, not even close. As long as Arcane Barrage casting is artificially throttled by the need to max out Salvo stacks the return on Mana Adept will be woefully insufficient, particularly in AoE when Arcane Pulse is used more often because of its insane mana cost.
While the AoE damage is indeed in a good place the mechanics are just not. With the specter of running out of mana always looming over your head like the sword of Damocles the spec feels like it’s been dragged back to the Dark Ages of the Classic era of WoW. As for the visual appeal of Arcane Orb I couldn’t disagree more. It’s a horribly dated spell that has never received a VFX update despite first being introduced all the way back at the start of WoD and despite the updated asset existing in the game since BfA.
No one was more shocked than I was but there you have it. Between the mana woes and the emphasis on Arcane Orb with all of its myriad problems I just can’t bring myself to deal with the mess they made out of Arcane. While the Spellslinger Orb build functions atm in the M0 environment, once the real endgame rolls out next week the sustain issues will come to the fore and render it unplayable in M+ and Heroic/Mythic raiding where fights will last much, much longer. That is unless Blizzard make substantial changes.
That is most definitely not how spellslinger is played.
No, it’s not.
You really have no idea how arcane works at all, do you?
You shouldn’t have mana issues with spellslinger. It might be tough as you are leveling to 90. But once at 90 and you start getting gear, mana is not a problem. This mage is lv 90 and sitting at 31 percent mastery. I do not go oom. But that is all based on how i play. Also shoot off arc barrage at 20 salvo stacks. You shouldn’t be spamming arc blast or pulse longer than what it takes to be getting to 20 salvos. You can’t be that unlucky and rarely get a clear casting proc.
You are definitely trolling. According to almost every guide for midnight, Mastery, Crit, and haste is being advocated for. Also, spellslinger does not have mana issues. Yes the 2 percent return from arc barrage and the arc familiar 2 percent does give the spec enough mana to play with. The basic rotation is simple for spellslinger. All it is is two casts of arc blast or pulse to build up 4 arcane charges. Then you have flexibility to use other abilities as they proc. With spellslinger, you use orc orb over missile. Only use orb when clear casting. Use arc barrage at 20 stacks salvo. if you talent into orb barrage then you don’t necessarily have to rebuild 4 charges.
I appreciate the advice and I don’t meant to come off as flippant but I’ve been playing Arcane for 20+ years. I know what I am doing. The mana issues are absolutely there. You may not be seeing them because right now everything dies very quickly and boss fights take only a minute or 2. Starting next week that will all change and the lack of sustained damage will become very apparent.
Beyond that Arcane Orb has a myriad of issues when it comes to massive raid bosses and their wonky hit boxes. Also good luck hitting any flying target with it like the phoenix boss coming up with the Sunwell raid.
Lastly, if you guys are liking this new version, more power to you but it’s objectively worse than TWW. Also don’t get too attached to it because Blizz will pull the plug on it just like they have on every other iteration of the spec because they have absolutely no idea what to do with Arcane and have been floundering on it for literal decades now.
Nope, not at all. You legitimately said “use missile anytime orb is on cd for clear casting” which you don’t do. You also think that the 2% return from barraging is enough to do all content yet you just dinged 90 and haven’t done the content. As for
that’s so disingenuous as to be laughable. Every class in the game wants mastery, crit and haste. Guess what? They want versatility too. Trick is you can’t stack 3, definitely not at early gear levels. In fact, sims are saying very different numbers. And Blizz just made things worse by announcing that they’re changing arcane pulse to be like blast now, aka super slow and quicker with charges. Allegedly to “remove confusion about which spell to use” but in reality because they don’t want us using a faster no charge pulse to get two charges.
Mana is going to be a thing in longer, harder content.
Not to step into the middle of your argument, but I want to highlight a few small details that might be getting overlooked. We can increase our mana pool by about 10% through enchantments/gems. Not listed in guides, as its not required. I’m not sure whether the familiar bonus stacks on top of that or is simply added separately. A 2% PER CHARGE return is significant, but if the community feels it’s too low, that’s an easy adjustment. I’m not personally having mana issues, but if they decide to bump it to 3% or higher, I’d have no problem with that.
The issue with this is that you don’t barrage enough to cover your mana loss as you’re incentivized to never, ever barrage with less than 20 stacks. There are times in M0 I break this rule if I’m low on mana and will barrage at 20 stacks then, if I get an orb proc, immediately barrage again for the mana return, then CC orb and such. But when dps really matters in high level m+, we won’t have this luxury.
Yeah, maybe. I guess we’ll find out soon. I feel like we’ve got the tools to adjust if we need to. I feel atleast, mobs living longer works in our favor with splitters and orb return. I feel i can keepup mana faster then my healer, and if they need to eat, i will too.
There is no argument Twinklewinkle. Clearly Tempestwinds is trolling or he is the one who does not know how to play his own spec. Obviously he is having issues with mana because he does not use the resources available for him when they come up. If orb is on cd and missile procs, why continue to waste more mana spamming very expensive abilities like arc blast and ignore using it. It is free and builds up arcane salvo. The orb build for spell slinger is designed around building up arcane salvo stacks quickly and using them to keep the mana flowing through barrage.
I can understand why it ends up being debatable, especially in M+. The guides give us a solid baseline for rotations, but once you’re actually in keys the flow can shift a lot. I’ve had runs where I just spend Clearcasting immediately, based on Magi cooldown and others where I lean on Splitters for orb returns and hold Clearcasting for the right moment, more often then not with orbs. I don’t just take AM off the table entirely. In a raid scenario, We always have splitters up, then I can see AM likely doesn’t see play, maybe something niche.
For me, Captured Thoughts is easily worth the single point—there are plenty of pulls where I’m swimming in Clearcasting procs, and it helps me carry that momentum cleanly from pack to pack.
So, the guy who’s been 90 for like 8 hours and has apparently read all the guides yet still gets the rotation and stat priority wrong is suggesting I don’t know how to play the spec? 
Pretty sure I’m not the troll here. But you do you.