Changes can be made to bolster our single-target damage without necessarily forcing us to recast Arcane Blast excessively.
2 Likes
Bump.
This really needs to be addressed. One of the most fun dps to play but right now it’s unplayable in any kind of competitive scenario.
1 Like
mobs tend to die to fast if ur talking lower key
what other meaningful single target spell do they have to buff, though? If they buff arcane barrage, then it also buffs aoe damage. The answer is there isn’t. The only way to buff single target without buffing something else at the same time is through arcane blast.
And we still cast arcane blast while doing single target. Look at the top parse on Sprocketmonger which is a pure single target fight. arcane blast and missiles are doing the vast majority of damage – but missiles are now aoe because of aether attunement and the tier set bonus.
So how does someone buff single target without buffing arcane blast?
1 Like
Blizzard can increase the base damage of Arcane Barrage and reduce the damage increase from its talents.
It can also increase the base damage of Arcane Missiles and reduce the damage increased by the Aether Attunement talent.
It can also increase the damage of Arcane Familiar, since this talent is required to gain access to Arcane Tempo.
all this seems really complicated compared to just buffing the single-target spell that we already press – except for arcane familiar which is completely passive.
I enjoy doing single target. I enjoy arcane blasting enemies into oblivion. I just wish it did a bit more damage. It costs a lot of mana to cast, it should also do powerful damage. That’s a simple fix that doesn’t throw the balance of the spec off.
In DF it was nice because it did enough damage to sustain the end of a pull somewhat. In a dungeon where we would take a taxi to the next platform it was OK to spend all mana to do a few blasts on the last mob or two standing from a pull.
The other nice thing about blast is it’s not fishing for charges all the time.
I’m going to say something perhaps a lot of people will disagree with here but I don’t think arcane is THAT poorly off post-buff. I am doing good damage in my dungeons now. A small tweak is good – 10% to AB. I would take more, but that is all what I personally need to feel like the spec is in a good place.
My guess is that they probably wanted a different mage to be played for raid prog this season, and they buff AB next season
2 Likes
Arcane mage is actually doing good. So I don’t disagree with you. You take arcane into rookery, theater of pain, floodgate and your damage is going to be chefs kiss.
1 Like
Oh heck yes! and maybe two charges by default with option to sink another talent for three, and a shorter overall cooldown
I’ve only been back in the fight like a week, but after getting some passable gear and running delves and M+2’s I am enjoying the playstyle more than I thought I would. When you get a sweet string of orb proc RNG sending the purple balls through large stacks of enemies and splintering the place up like a tornado the numbers get so sick!
Right, but also, we have some Arcane legendary gamers in line with the other specs on heroic, and they do it without power infusion. so that’s kinda the rub.
Here are the figures for all content types, based on the latest data from Archon.gg and the past week of WarcraftLogs. The Boss Single Target numbers are taken from Heroic Sprocketmonger Lockenstock:
Buffs Needed:
To hit the average DPS:
- Mythic+ (7-19): ~3.4% buff
- Heroic Raid: ~1.94% buff
- Boss ST: needs ~7.43% buff
To land in the top 25% of specs:
- Mythic+ (7-19): ~8.75% buff
- Heroic Raid: ~5.19% buff
- Boss ST: ~13.36% buff
Mythic+:
- Arcane Mage DPS: 2.83M
- Basic Average DPS across all specs: 2.93M
- Top 25% DPS threshold: 3.08M
Heroic Raid:
- Arcane Mage DPS: 2,065,703
- Basic Average DPS across all specs: 2,105,838
- Top 25% DPS threshold: 2,172,871
Single Target:
- Arcane Mage DPS: 1,794,810
- Basic Average DPS: 1,928,206
- Top 25% DPS threshold: 2,034,619
| Content Type | Total Parses | Arcane Parses |
|---|---|---|
| Mythic+ | 4,635,581 | 36,885 |
| Heroic Raid | 1,988,422 | 16,422 |
| Boss ST | 251,679 | 2,037 |
6 Likes
I hate to reopen this topic but these numbers really say it all. ST damage is lacking in raid and M+ damage is lacking because of target cap - even with 99 parses.
Arcane is completely viable now up to 13s and late Mythic raid, which is great, but it still doesn’t feel good to lose to players several ilvls lower who are playing less complicated specs. Fire once again stealing the show. Can’t stand that spec. Feels like Fire is the number one reason Arcane is never allowed to shine.
4 Likes
Blizzard has listened and is bringing us up to average: Class Tuning Incoming – April 15 - Community / General Discussion - World of Warcraft Forums
MAGE
- Arcane
-
All damage dealt increased by 4%. Does not apply to PvP combat.
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Sunfury: Arcane Phoenix area of effect spell damage increased by 25%.
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Sunfury: Meteorite damage increased by 10%.
-
5 Likes
It does seem like your posts possibly had some influence. I’m totally cool with being a middle-of-the-pack spec but arcane might be rather good now, even, in m+
Another couple of these and we’ll be mid.
1 Like
It’s not even Fire as a spec, it’s just Combustion and the devs’ obsession to tie everything with DPS cooldowns. They’ve repeatedly said that they view optimal cooldown usage as the only form of skill expression which is mind boggling to me but if you take them at their word then it makes perfect sense that a spec which entirely revolves around it’s one and only DPS cooldown will always perform the best.
I too am tired of playing second fiddle (or 26th since Arcane is just above Aug on the charts) to Fire for yet another patch and fortunately I won’t have to because my subscription expires later tonight.
1 Like
You’re insane if you think this will only make Arcane average. Arcane is completing and doing insane damage in high keys. Arcane will absolutely be a top M+ spec.
I don’t know if I’m being “insane”, but I’m just going by the numbers that are currently available. Do you have a dataset to support what you’re saying?
Based on the figures I can see, it doesn’t look like Arcane will be overpowered, even in Mythic+.
For high-level keys, from +12 to +19, there have been a total of 376,285 parses over the past two weeks:
| Specialization | DPS | Parses |
|---|---|---|
| Unholy Death Knight | 4.19M | 36,985 |
| Balance Druid | 3.85M | 30,085 |
| Devastation Evoker | 3.80M | 10,763 |
| Elemental Shaman | 3.78M | 18,080 |
| Assassination Rogue | 3.77M | 10,485 |
| Fire Mage | 3.73M | 18,536 |
| Marksmanship Hunter | 3.72M | 27,380 |
| Demonology Warlock | 3.67M | 16,871 |
| Feral Druid | 3.62M | 5,652 |
| Enhancement Shaman | 3.59M | 10,531 |
| Retribution Paladin | 3.58M | 57,952 |
| Outlaw Rogue | 3.55M | 3,668 |
| Destruction Warlock | 3.46M | 8,617 |
| Frost Mage | 3.42M | 20,270 |
| Arcane Mage | 3.41M | 3,517 |
| Arms Warrior | 3.39M | 10,467 |
| Windwalker Monk | 3.39M | 11,628 |
| Affliction Warlock | 3.32M | 2,171 |
| Frost Death Knight | 3.32M | 3,927 |
| Beast Mastery Hunter | 3.27M | 26,900 |
| Subtlety Rogue | 3.23M | 2,716 |
| Havoc Demon Hunter | 3.21M | 17,129 |
| Shadow Priest | 3.10M | 7,428 |
| Survival Hunter | 3.07M | 3,901 |
| Fury Warrior | 3.01M | 9,826 |
| Augmentation Evoker | 2.48M | 800 |
Basic Average DPS: 3.46M
Top 25% DPS Threshold: 3.71M
Arcane Mage DPS: 3.41M
Arcane Mage DPS (after 4% buff): 3.55M
Since 99.5% of Arcane parses in Mythic+ are using the SpellSlinger build, the Sunfury buffs (currently only ~0.5% of parses) aren’t taken into account.
Coincidentally or not, it seems Blizzard shares the same opinion. If you recall, in my last message I suggested the following:
“What I would like to see is Arcane Blast being buffed: It currently represents only 15% of our overall DPS on single-target (Sprocketmonger Lockenstock) and 10% on multi-target (Vexie). A 40% buff on Arcane Blast would put us right at the all-class average DPS for both Boss ST and Mythic Raid.”
Well, a 40% buff to Arcane Blast equals a 6% increase in single-target and exactly 4% in multi-target damage 
3 Likes
That’s just because no one is playing and they are playing fire. Arcane is deff doing very well in high keys, especially in the dungeons you can’t really pull more than 5. Go to the mage discord and while ppl are happy about it, it’s agreed that it was somewhat unnecessary. I get everyone wants arcane on top again like in season 1 but arcane is not doing bad. Just no one is playing it. DK shot up in dps ranking and got NO buff a few weeks back all because MORE ppl started playing it.
Makes sense to me, I didn’t think warlocks need the buffs (until i saw your chart). Turns out they are around the same spot as arcane was.
I think we all know that you might start a pull with a pack of mobs, but you’re going to chain in more than 5 and let the cleave do the work.
1 Like