Looking over wowhead’s explanation of Shadowland changes for Arcane reads like a giant troll to players. Even the author had to start with a caveat, I know this seems like a lot of complaining, he warns. He then proceeds to explain in infuriating detail the myriad of ways Arcane still isn’t fixed. How, while every other spec gets cool new abilities, we lose displacement. How Alter Time is NOT even close to a replacement for its loss. Terrible cleave. Bad mobility. HUGE ramp time up with multiple abilities on the GCD. So 5 seconds into a 10 second cooldown we can finally start DPSing…
The thing that struck me though, is that none of this is new. We’ve seen these critiques (and many others) along with good suggestions for change on these forums for years! Go back to the Legion style of play. Provide a meaningful alternative to rune of power. Take some abilities off the GCD. How about the legion AOE shoulders with a chance to proc arcane orb? This is just to name a few. But what to we get instead? A legendary with, of all things, brainstorm… And arcane power’s cooldown doubled to 3 minutes…
I feel like were being worse than ignored. We’re being trolled. If devs hate the spec this much I’d prefer they just get rid of it. Let mage be a 2 spec class like Demon Hunters. At least that way I can stop getting my hopes up that my favorite spec will ever improve…
Sincerely,
Annoyed Arcane
9 Likes
I’ve actually said this before as well. I do wish that they would delete the spec if they do not plan on actually ever giving it attention. I stand by that sentiment. I would even appreciate it being redesigned into almost a complete support spec. Just anything honestly. It feels so forgotten now.
5 Likes
It’s fair to be frustrated, arcane has truly been in a strange spot since they worked on defining every spec in the game into its own identity .
Arcane used to be the dump spec for whatever wasn’t frost or fire related, 90% of mage utility falls into this category: blink, polymorph, alter time, time warp, arcane intellect, etc. So when they turned all specs into separate identities arcane felt thin, not a lot of well built on damage loops or rotational abilities.
Its baffling to me though that there are specs in this game that they allow to be consistently broken for years when so many passionate players who love arcanes weirdness put forth simple fixes that blizzard could use and make it work without much effort on their part.
The effort they put into making disc priests have a working spec proved incredibly fruitful, and it was in much of the same spot, a dump of all the priests utility and more niche talents that didn’t have a place in shadow or holy.
6 Likes
I don’t care about how barren the spec is, I actually enjoy both the playstyle and simplicity of the spec. What I don’t enjoy is that it is uncompetitive, and a chore to play, when other specs are much more fluid and able to perform with the encounter designs that Blizzard has been putting forth for the past two expansions. So at this point, if they aren’t going to make the changes it needs to compete, just scrap it, or make it into an important utility and semi damage spec like disc is in terms of healing and damage.
Cut their damage abilities output (not completely, but like how disc isn’t meant for dps but the dps is still above what other healers like a holy priest does). Make the spec the only one that can do things like provide mage tables, the only one that can cast time warp, make more talent choices that provides utility and buffs to another player. Make the spec feel useful. This may seem dramatic, but in the current design of the game and the spec, the room for Arcane is becoming more and more cramped. It’s been falling behind for a while now. So in my opinion fix the spec, completely redesign the spec with a whole new thematic purpose, or scrap it completely.
3 Likes
Arcane is the Shadow Priest of mage specs sadly.
Also, fix Shadow Priest Blizzard!
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wow no, never, arcane would never be invited to any group unless it was made mandatory. Support specs aren’t a thing in wow and should never be.
1 Like
they had a chance to fix it come SL , they added somo changes mana returned on Barrage , and the poor excuse that is touch of Magi made baseline
The legendaries arent event good TW ring and thats it.
1 Like
Honestly arcane seems to be getting the same treatment as shadow Priests
Just generally being ignored while Blizzard casually glosses over the issues and pretends they’re not there
3 Likes
Lol, kind of my cynical view on it anyways. I’m not sure why anyone would choose an Arcane mage for a group. Can they pump out dps? Sure, but even just them having to drink is a hindrance in M+. It’s also frustrating for the Arcane Mage, especially if pugging and the tank pulls the boss mid drink and you’re at 60% mana. The talents compound the problem especially in M+, either have solid ST, or solid AoE with lackluster, clunky, ST. It’s already in a terrible position, blizz could care less, just scrap it or change it to something that no one will take. Trust me, I get that people still like the spec, I was someone who loved the spec. I had high hopes around BoD/EP that maybe they would fix it come Shadowlands. Lol how naive I was.
4 Likes
A buff spec might be innovative and cool. Add in defensive utility too in the form of shields and you’d have a possibly unique healer. Other games have em and there is a viable fantasy link to it too. You’d think that those that studied the arcane would have more to handle each and every situation rather than just being “Ooooo ancient power go boom boom” 
Really though. One of the more lost things in the game is the idea that damage prevented or avoided is damage that doesn’t need to be healed. Considering arcane loses mana like healers anyway why not make it a buff and preventative type healer that can use mana and charges to fuel either offensive buffs or defensive buffs. No other healer in the game does that. The only ones that even come relatively close is paladin and disc with devo and pw:s (that’s if u use the mana to put it on the whole group) and monks with their built in physical damage debuff on mobs they hit which is a passive…
Imagine if instead you have a mage that has studied the arcane and can’t direct heal but can channel resources into weaving strong defensive spell buffs for the group or in periods of low damage (which happens frequently if the tank has DR up or in raid when raid wide mechanics aren’t happening) channel offensive buffs that boost single player damage burst or buff the group in small ways. They could even limit time warp to this iteration of arcane taking it away from fire and frost mages.
It would change the way a lot of content would and could be approached and would necessitate bringing at least one arcane mage to raids for the sheer utility boost. It would also reward good proactive play and players that can apply situational intelligence and would be a guaranteed FoTM spec for how different it is from anything wow has ever done.
Ofc…that would be fun. This is Activision WoW. Fun’s not allowed 
2 Likes
first fix cleave/aoe then we can start to work from there…
support specs doesnt work in a game like wow, u can add some support (like enh with windfury ) , maybe a multistrike for spells only (that would put arcane in a good position for casters or healers , hell even some melees would benefit (retri and unholy )
but still if u are doing half the dmg of other casters there is no point in supporting outside raids…and arcane needs to work on M+/Torghast too
6 Likes
To be fair even in WoW there is an example of making arcane into a healing spec: Chromie “heals” using time magic to reverse damage. They could easily make a spec out of that. Not saying it should be done but would be a fun idea. Make mages like druids and give them a fourth spec as a time magic healer.
yeah but changing a dps spec that ppl love into a healer spec …is even worse that what blizz did to Survival…
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Theyve killed so many classes and specs, theyll wonder in two years where the player base went. Oh right , from giving no f***s about your fanbase. Survival LOL Arcane LOL SHADOW LOL. Why do they troll like this and let their bias show so hard. Ranged overall is just a joke. May as well delete them.
It’s really killed my excitement for the expansion. I was sooo excited when they announced things at blizzcon and the closer we get to release the less excited I get because I realize all the specs I’m actually interested in aren’t really being addressed.
I’m really tired of them throwing class design on the back burner because they want to focus on implementing new systems every single expansion. Can we fix the core issues first and then add on to them? That seems like the most logical thing to do but then again I’m not a game developer so what do I know?
4 Likes
I am just waiting for statement that demo locks got to be applied to arcane.
“We’d rather you not play arcane.”
Arcane’s issues being ignored is due to one of two things: ignorance or malice. I would like to give the developers the benefit of the doubt and say that it is just ignorance. They don’t read the forums and don’t play Arcane so they have no idea what the issues are. Except that they do read the forums; for example the mage development forums where feedback about Arcane, Frost, and Fire issues. That topic has numerous statement about the issues Arcane is facing, hell even has a good video showing the issue with the increased ramp up times. How do we know the developers read it? Because they responded to it; but only to speak to and address the issues with Fire. And changes were made; but only for Fire. Because of this I have to assume that the treatment of Arcane is due to Malice. They see that issues, they are aware of the numerous issues and they are actively choosing to not correct them. That is intentional.
6 Likes
Wow so many ppl speaking up for arcane, sure from time to time you see some complaining arcane mages but now the forums are floated with it. They shouldn’t ignore so many ppl. Keep going!
They can’t let arcane go live as it is now. It looks so half finished. I mean alone the burst ramp up is a bad bad joke. there MUST be something in the devs mind about it…
I extra played a mage on US servers so i can give feedback here cause i am sure not a single dev who has to say something in this company ever reads eu forums lol
3 Likes
thats because we arcane fans have been in the shadows , playing another spec or another class
and now is the time to speak up , hope Blizz listen and give Arcane the love it deserves ! , there has been 1491481 suggestions in how to fix or make arcane more enjoyable .
But here we are having “hope” …until SL goes live and arcane is still “playable but not good enough to main it”
I don’t think it’s hate as much as apathy and general incompetence. The current dev team ruined a lot of specs when they brought in their “we want class fantasy” … which really just seemed like a large scale way for them to screw demo locks for their newest creation.
They’ve shown for 2 and now potentially a 3rd expansion that they don’t understand the classes they develop. That the players are able to pick out the nuances of changes that the devs seem oblivious too is very telling.
I also think arcane suffers from being in a class that’s all dps. As long as one … maybe 2 of the other specs are doing ok, i don’t think they mind having one that’s garbage. They’ll be happy to see people questing in arcane or pvp’ing and they’ll pat themselves on the back and congrats for a job well done … when it couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Ion and his team are beyond their abilities to effectively design for this game. He needs to go back to raid development and the class devs need to move on to a more simplistic game. Their failure on this one is now epic. If they aren’t removed we’ll get expansion after expansion of borrowed abilities and the same classes and specs performing and/or underperforming.
They just don’t come across like they really care about the game anymore. They need to move on.
6 Likes