With the Alpha talents showing that the DPS related buffs have been removed from Evocation, I’m left wondering what the purpose of this spell is. I’m not saying it’s pointless - I just am trying to figure out how it fits into modern Arcane, or this new Midnight Arcane. Are we supposed to be running out of mana in our rotation? If we don’t, are we being sub-optimal? If our mana doesn’t need tracking, then is something like Evocation a dead talent?
There was a time when you would hit Arcane Power, burn all your mana down, hit Evocation, get your mana back up, and then conserve until your next Arcane Power. That’s a pretty antiquated style of play for Arcane, but Evocation has remained with added effects since then. Arcane Power evolved into Arcane Surge, now spending all our mana to deal damage and immediately regenerating it back - making it do exactly what Evocation used to do.
Since Arcane Surge’s introduction, I’ve felt it was a little wonky. It spends our mana only to immediately regenerate it back. Ok - so why does it need to spend mana then if it gives it back immediately? And since it does exactly what Evocation does but with additional effects, how does Evocation fit in?
My proposed solution is this: Arcane Surge still deals damage and buffs your spell damage, but now slowly drains your mana over its duration. For its duration, your spells do not cost mana. That way you end up at the end of your burn with no mana and you have to earn it back with Evocation. Maybe a percentage of the mana you would have spent on spells during Arcane Surge refunds at the end so you aren’t left with nothing, or maybe that’s a choice node with Evocation.
Thoughts?