IDK guys, I’m struggling with this Build and 4-piece. I went Harmony, then backed off, but found I really do LIKE them juicy CRITS from Harmony, but also without them I was not keeping up. Started today getting into higher keys (meaning +16 or above) and I’m not keeping up with the other DPS (especially hunters). I am not a lazy player either, like it’s intense game play and smashing all buttons at what should be the right times, using trinkets effectively and doing my best. I just feel kaput. Not sure what I’m doing wrong.
My feedback to Blizz:
The synergy in this Tier set isn’t there. The trigger of “consuming clearcasting” is very RNG and sometimes it just DOESN’T happen, because in order to consume a clearcast I have to generate a clearcast…which is part random and depending on timing means my power drops off intermittently. I can compete with other DPS only IF I can keep the 2 set bonus active for my 10% Dmg gain AND keep track of Harmony blasts (for those sweet crits!). I thought the Arcane Orb RNG was bad, but this is next level.
The cleave from 4-piece Tier Proc tends to be so small it misses groups nearby the target, effectively wasting the burst (this is frustrating gameplay). What’s ironic is I can throw the missiles which hit one target, then throw an Arcane barrage which hits the other four enemies nearby…These should be the same. If I hit it with barrage, it should hit with missiles.
You built the tier 180 degrees counter to one of the talents you want us to take (Concentration). And we gave that feedback on PTR, a bunch of times! But you’re like “it’s fine” but it’s not fine. My talent is actively working against my set bonus.
You still have clearcasting BUGs that aren’t fixed, still, after many years of reports, they remain unfixed and now the Tier set highlights these bugs every Raid/Dungeon.
Boost Arcane Orb damage, it’s low right now
Boost the 4-piece dmg bonus from 150% to more like 300% and make sure it had a affect range similar to barrage.
Pick a different trigger! Or increase the base rate at which clearcasting procs. Even with every talent point I can spend related to clearcasting, it’s still infrequent enough to be very unreliable.
Yeah I feel you, Arcane is such a mess when it comes to counter synergy between the various talents, abilities and items (like tier sets and trinkets). Most of that stems from the outdated design that revolves around mana which simply isn’t integrated into the game anymore and clashes with everything.
The rest is due to a lack of a central theme around which the spec can be built up. It started off as a way to augment the other two specs, then it became all about mana management, now it’s a hot mess that revolves around cooldown and damage multiplier stacking.
I continue to maintain that we need a complete overhaul. There is just no way around it, too much is broken and has been for years with each patch just slapping on one bandaid after another without actually fixing anything long term.
Maybe you’re already doing this, but I’ve found that playing my ST Gem spec in keys has been easier and more rewarding than any AOE spec, just use Arcane Cleave instead of Mana Adept. It has better synergy with the tier set and due to ToM, Arcane Echo & Radiant Echo you can hit 300k, or 500k with lust on big trash pulls. Which was up there those other specs, some times. May not be able to do it every time, but to do it once and then do decent dps the remainder of the keys felt good.
Besides, the main benefit of Arcane is pew-pewing bosses. Most people should know Arcane is a ST hero. Don’t be useless on packs, be top dps on bosses, and voila you’ll have a good run. Tends to net the high 160s-170s which is usually 2nd overall, occasionally 1st. Or maybe last if everyone else is a gawd. That’s all based in 17-19s
The real pain is keeping up the 2p buff. Just over here spamming Arcane Explosion between pulls.
They never learn that everyone hates maintenance buffs because they’re a pain to keep up, especially when they have multiple stacks. Sticking Arcane with such a buff is particularly cruel given our already ridiculous ramp up and reliance on stacking damage multipliers.
Well at least with every iteration the game play loop gets better. Orb is fun, I can’t imagine trying to do this raid tier stuck to the ground with ROP. I agree adding more management is an issue. Even spamming AE shouldn’t be the solution if enlightened falls off or you can just be trading one damage amp for another. I think they will increase the duration, I don’t think it’s a big ask.
That’s sort of true. It’s certainly been the case in DF but the expansion launched as a total mess and while things have improved with each subsequent patch most of those weren’t new iterations as much as bringing back old stuff that worked, like the Legion legendary shoulders that became Orb Barrage.
But in the grand scheme of things that has not been the case and indeed more often than not they end up taking 3 steps back before taking 1 step forward, case in point the entirety of SL. That said, I am cautiously optimistic because they have demonstrated that they listen to feedback lately but evidently that doesn’t extend to the PTRs when players point out all the flaws with whatever they’re about to release, like the tier bonuses, and that goes largely ignored.
Yea, I took your advice and dropped out of Harmony and moved back basically to what I was doing at the end of last season. It went better. I almost need to just ignore the Tier set and just play the way I am used to. I still think they need to buff Arcane Missile Dmg baseline.
On another note, most seasons there is like one dungeon I love to run (last season it was Freehold), and that keeps me going, because I just find it “fun” no matter what level and run it 8 times a week to get my vault up. But this season, none of them are all that interesting to me. Dawn-Fall is the best I can do for “fun” and it’s not super fun. I need one to fall back on and get my weekly slots filled up on, but right now the selection isn’t for me. None are “bad”, theya re just all “meh”. I even finished the normal raid (which I usually don’t do), but the only super fun boss in the raid is the second to last one where you get to fly between phases (it’s fun to me). Maybe I take a pause on this game for a while and come back when they want to treat arcane well…which at the end of last season I thought was pretty good, they just flopped with Tier set this time…IDK (rambling).
This is what I am back to and it does better. I was trying to run a harmony build to capitalize on the 4-piece bonus but just couldn’t get it to work. The RnG around clearcasting is just too unreliable for me to play around.
I am still getting the mana gem clearcasting talent bug where game shows I have clearcasting but won’t cast a clearcasted missiles unless I use another spell in between using the gem and missiles
We’re three seasons in and this bug still persists
There have been a plethora of Clearcasting bugs since they made missiles castable without being activated by a buff. That was what, BfA? We’re not three seasons in. We’re three expansions in.
(The bug in question: If you cast a spell that procs Clearcasting but fails to hit an enemy - such as casting arcane missiles but canceling the cast before any missiles actually go out - the proc will be bugged and not provide any benefits. I imagine it’s the same issue that’s affecting the mana gem proc.)
Yup, for like a few years now. If you check the bug forum there is multiple reports…they just can’t figure out their own code, or it’s so low priority…either way, sucks.
We had a working Arcane Harmony build in SL too. I just needed some number buffs in Season 3, but it definitely worked.
Regarding the rest of your suggested changes, I don’t think Blizzard is going to do anything. They’ve made it overwhelmingly clear that this will be the melee patch (even though they were already good in S1 and S2).
Range players should prolly just play another game until next expac since S4 will be S3 with repeats of old raids
I’ve almost given up trying to be competitive on trash because it’s just not happening. I’m rarely outdone on bosses but watching my numbers be humbled, even with all cds popped, by DH, Ret, Demo, Hunters and such is disheartening.