We always wanted a rework, so I’m glad to see a big bunch of changes (like 4 or 5 new talents added, orb made baseline), but I can’t even process with how much it keeps changing. Oh and they dropped the “+bonus arcane damage” weeks from Mythic design, so there goes my hope of stacking some 3 or 4 Arcane mages 
Oh well.
As a matter of opinion, I’m glad to see frequent changes/tweaks/updates to arcane, I just hope it lands in a good/steady place before TWW releases.
Spellslinger Arcane FTW!
Honestly, by now I am used to Arcane constantly undergoing major shifts between expansions because it’s a very clunky spec and its outdated core mechanics are just very hard to balance and make work in the ever-changing modern game. Can’t say how well this new iteration will do because (1) I refuse to pay for Beta access on principle and (2) even if I had it rn I wouldn’t be playtesting anything because I am on a hiatus in The Lands Between until further notice!
P.S. I am not surprised they’re taking out the elemental weeks from the M+ rotation. It may have seemed like a cool idea on paper but in reality it would have made it incredibly frustrating (even more than it already is) for DPS to find a group on weeks that don’t match their spec’s element.
I personally think Arcane suffers heavily from over engineering.
It had a simple yet satisfying and rewarding gameplay loop back in the day. WoD Arcane Mage was probably my favorite time playing this game.
I was playing the Beta spamming Arcane Blast and I could just not spend my mana fast enough. I should have been going OOM but seeing massive numbers Blasting.
Arcane Familiar being a Raven was the only positive I personally had. Maybe I’m out of touch and people want more flashiness, more buttons, more CDs. But I miss the simple Conserve & Burn.
I cant see this anywhere, what hero spec has a raven
It is a new animation of Arcane Familiar for all Arcane hero specs in TWW.
Yeah it’s in the Arcane tree.
It used to be a 1 hour buff you’d have to press and it was just an orb. Now it’s tied to Arcane Intellect and summons a purple Raven instead of an orb.
This guy here, I like this guy.
I really do hope Arcane mage is still something that feels like it takes more than two braincogs to play, will be tragic if it is just turned into another unga spec.
As of right now, live and testing, the spec is just a mess.
How is it a mess? It feels just like arcane felt in Legion. Which was the best evolution of arcane (imo, of course). And they brought back one of the legion leggos into the new talent tree.
I am interested in the new Arcane but I don’t like the idea of having to use Arcane Explosion. Is it mandatory for AoE?
It is but with Orb Barrage it’s less and less important. The near melee range is admittedly not optimal but the fact that it’s an instant cast spell that doesn’t require a target makes it one of the best AoE filler spells in the game.
Also being in melee range as a caster isn’t a death sentence. It’s just a matter of learning to adapt and getting used to it. Every spec in the game has a learning curve of some kind and this is one of Arcane’s.
All I wanted was Alunet thing back but well guess it never will
I’m looking at mage and warlock both and feeling warlocks safer but same time it’s been a while since I mained mage and all specs feel fun… I can’t decide which lol
I can’t either. It’s either mage or warlock. But in reality I’m guessing we can do both as gear will be easy to share as they are both cloth wearers