im sort of a noob when it comes to wow still trying to find my class, i tried lock but i usually suck with it, can arcane be played casually? is it easy or is it hard? should i start with frost then?
what level of casual? Normal raid+low lvl mythic or completely solo conent+LFR?
Arcane kinda sucks at solo content. Frost will be much better at soloing elites in open world and stuff.
I would say find the Mage spec that has the longer rotation (probably arcane) and start there, once you get that down it will probably make the other rotations easier. I play frost for everything, Solo, PvE, PvP and I love it. I tried arcane and well, I just can’t do the combos it seems or never had a good rotational breakdown. But try all 3 and see how you feel.
I don’t even know where this line of thinking came from that Frost is somehow the only spec to solo stuff as a Mage when Arcane has been superior at it since at least Legion thanks to Chrono Shift and having actual burst damage, elites can’t be slowed if they’re a rare mob which removes the defensive niche of Frost while Arcane can still kite with Barrage spam until cooldowns are back.
In Wrath Classic right now Arcane still kills just about anything in the open world before it connects to you which makes me wonder even more about how this thought came to be.
Imo arcane needs high health targets to actually use its full burst potential.
I actually do less dps in a M0 than I do in a 10 because things just die too fast.
If you want a casual mage spec, I’d say frost is your best bet.
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Go back to college if you want to play arcane, GED is not enough.
But if you insist on playing it, check out Toegrinder.
Also check out
From Toegrinder as well.
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Toegrinder is the man! highly recommend that guide, helped me immensely.
Ok. Casual. I’m assuming you mean Solo WQ content, maybe some heroics, and some LFR. Why? Because that’s what I do, and I consider myself casual.
With that in mind, man, for WQ/Solo stuff, I’ve never had an issue with Arcane Blast → Arcane Missile → AB → AM → AB → AM → AB → AM → Arcane Barrage. If anything you’re fighting is still alive after that, renew your shield, frost nova, and start again. Or run back to your corpse. It’s like a 80/20 survival if you actually complete that rotation.
Got a big group? Arcane orb…then repeat the above rotation.
In a Heroic? Don’t be so obvious. Be liberal with the arcane orbs and missiles. If you don’t missile a lot, they’ll think you’re AFK and boot you since AB doesn’t really have a highly visible spam. Also, Barrage more often. Heroics don’t really need effort, they just need you to be flashy. The tank is going to solo the dungeon anyway. You’re just there to be fireworks to celebrate their button mashing.
In a raid? Use the same rotation at the top, but also burn as many cooldowns as you can, preferably at the same time, but only when fighting bosses.
Will you be the highest DPS in the graveyard? No. But you’ll be good enough you can probably get a battle-rez from the Moonkin if you send a whisper, and you died in a convenient to mouse-over location.
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Casually in the sense of doing only base level content or casually in the sense of not playing the rather complex meta build?
If the former, absolutely. Any spec is viable for open world and LFG/LFR content.
If the latter then also yes but not optimally. Arcane is a spec that requires a great deal of experience and comfort with both the internal mechanisms of the spec as well as knowledge of a fight. Specifically on when to hold cooldowns so as not to waste them since the majority of your damage comes from those brief burst windows when you stack all of your cooldowns.
I mean… that kinda says the whole spec needs a rework right there.
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I play the current iteration of Arcane my way. It’s not the “optimal” way, but I haven’t had any issues engaging in solo content or in normal raiding. I’m not topping meters most of the time, but I am also not typically in the bottom either. This is the build I am currently using:
I’m not happy about some of the choices I had to make so I could perform adequately in all areas that matter to me, but this spec allows me to cover the basics of performance in all the content I engage in. I never swap talents for specific fights and just deal with whatever comes my way with this set up.
For short fights (like soloing rares or tough elites, or vs. dungeon bosses in groups) I pop Presence of Mind, then simply tag the mob in question with Arcane Barrage to get its attention, pop Mirror Image to divert that attention, move away from the images, and then Arcane Surge > Touch of the Magi/Mana Gem macro > Arcane Missiles x3 (to use up the clearcasts) > then instant Arcane Blast x2. Assuming the mob in question isn’t dead, I then swap to clearcast Arcane Missiles with two Arcane Blasts to follow (Nether Precision), or just Arcane Blast if I have no clearcasts. I almost never drop my charges so Impetus is basically just a damage proc for me.
For aoe, assuming the mobs won’t last long enough to be worth using Surge, I do the old Arcane Explosion x4/Barrage rotation with a some Arcane Orb/Barrage’s and an Ice Nova tossed in. For meatier trash like in the raid, I’ll do the above mentioned Surge rotation followed by Barrage and then Orb/Barrage x2 and then Ice Nova until I fall back to the Explosion/Barrage rotation.
It’s not the optimal talent setup nor is it the optimal way to play but its relatively simple and the numbers it puts out are acceptable IMO. I hate having to use Arcane Orb, but without it my aoe damage drops significantly.
While I do have issues with the spec, I can’t see any reason why anyone would think Arcane can’t be played casually or can’t solo world content. I haven’t had any issue doing so and don’t feel particularly weak out in the world. I can even solo the Grinch holiday mob (which I often have to do on alt mages I have on other less populated servers). Between Mirror Image, Barrier + Diverted Energy, Ice Block + Cryo-Freeze, Blink + Tempest Barrier, Alter Time, Displacement, and Slow, I feel I have ample tools necessary to handle world content. And if things all go to 
there’s always Greater Invisibility to make a tactical retreat. 
For world/solo content, normal raiding, and Mythic+ up to 15, this spec should be fine. For more difficult content, you may need to look into the “optimal” spec and rotation.
That really made me chuckle!
I find Arcane fun to play (nice pew, pew and little QQ) but tough to be consistent with.
My issue with arcane is its the squishiest mage spec and the least mobile while also being the most punishing when it comes to mistakes. So other then thats its fine 