Hello all! As almost a month had passed and general tree had received little to no changes, there might be a situation that Blizzard is either heavily overhauling it or just hesitates what to do with it. This is why I created this topic - it contains both suggested changes / additions to Mage general talent tree and the whole design how they could be placed. This design is not mandatory, but it is fitting - it splits tree into three elemental branches that match the specs and tries to keep them thematic and their dps throughput balanced (that is why Fire and Frost parts of tree have new dps talents in them and secondary stat tomes as end tree opening talents - it allows to balance their dps increase better with the Arcane part, which has a strict dps increase node as an end tree talent, but opening talents to it are not dps gains to compensate). These suggestions are often based on suggestions of other people, so copyrights are preserved 
Current issues of Mage general tree:
- General tree is too limited by 3 point nodes - they are both very taxing and often not even powerful enough to justify their investment.
Solution: Suggested design removes 3 point investment for these nodes, turns many of them into 2 point nodes, moves many of them to more appropriate positions that also allow to make them optional, but keeps their effect similar or buffs the undertuned effects. - There is too little amount of choices in the general tree - most talents are survivability boosts or current Mage class effects.
Solution: Suggested design adds many new talents that support different playstyles - mobility boosting talents like Blazing Speed, CC / CC improvement talents, some dps talents and new utility / conditional talents. - Many talents are either very small benefit gain, require 2 point investment for below average effect or both.
Solution: Suggested design removes / merges / buffs most of these talents. - Talents in general tree are too mixed and shuffled - Mirror Images are in Frost part of tree, Master of Time is hidden deep within Fire part of tree etc.
Solution: Suggested design moves many such talents to their corresponding subtrees, but still tries to keep them decently accessible.
Here is the visualized talent tree (described order is from left to right in it). As I do not have 3rd level of trust, I would ask somebody with it to post the link in the thread, so that people can see the draft without necessity to follow this link:
https://imgur.com/a/PmBLM61
Numbers after the names mean point investment.
Tree has totally nodes for 63 points and 2 points are suggested as prefilled for each spec (Blazing Barrier + Fire Blast for Fire Mages, Ice Barrier + Shatter for Frost Mages, Prismatic Barrier + Arcane Missiles for Arcane Mages), so players can pick 31 point from remaining 61 and can fill about half of the tree (just like most other classes). Third part is organized the way to let people pick only 2 of 3 fully upgraded end talents simultaneously, providing build diversity and possible choices.
Full list of talent tree nodes:
Row 1:
Blazing / Ice / Prismatic Barrier (1)
Comment: All three barriers should have their full effect for corresponding specs baseline, so that they are in line with Shaman elemental shields, which receive their full current effect baseline.
Row 2:
Shatter (1): Multiplies the critical strike chance of your spells against frozen targets by 1.5, and adds an additional 25% critical strike chance.
Comment: Is suggested to become auto-filled for Frost Mage, so that it is not possible to take Improved Shatter in Frost tree without it.
Cone of Cold (1): Targets in a cone in front of you take X% of Spell Power Frost damage and have movement slowed by 70% for 5 sec.
Slow (1): Reduces the target’s movement speed by 50% for 15 sec.
Comment: Put in a three way central path to make it more optional. Has a utility talent Remove Curse and a dps talent Arcane Missiles as alternatives on this path.
Remove Curse (1): Removes all Curses from a friendly target.
Comment: Now is optional.
Arcane Missiles (1): Launches five waves of Arcane Missiles at the enemy over 2.5 sec, causing a total of X% of Spell Power Arcane damage.
Comment: I suggest to make it accessible in general tree. This could be an optional tool for Fire and Frost Mages, who would get a decent dps and mana dump single-target ability to use while kicked on major school, as well as would give them a good execute tool to quickly finish heavily wounded enemies without reliance on RNG procs. Suggested to also be auto-filled for Arcane Mage.
Frostfire Bolt (1): Launches a bolt of frostfire at the enemy, causing X% of Spell Power Frostfire damage and slowing the target’s movement by 50% for 8 sec. 2 sec cast time. 10+s CD. Fire or Fire & Frost school.
Comment: Good old Frostfire Bolt that many Mages miss. However, Flurry is a decent tool, especially after it was made charge-based, so I suggest to let them coexist - instead of replacing Flurry for Frost, Frostfire Bolt is suggested to become a castable big hit spell with cooldown attached akin to Shaman’s Lava Burst. It should also proc Heating Up / Hot Streak for Fire Mages and Fingers of Frost / Brain Freeze for Frost Mages, so that it could participate in their rotation. Arcane Mage could use it as well in PVE or as a decent filler when kicked on Arcane school in PVP.
Improved Fire Blast (1): Fire Blast always deals a critical strike.
Comment: Should be auto filled for Fire Mage and can make Fire Blast more useful for Frost and Arcane Mages.
Row 3:
Ice Block (1): Encases you in a block of ice, protecting you from all attacks and damage for 10 sec, but during that time you cannot attack, move, or cast spells.
Causes Hypothermia, preventing you from recasting Ice Block for 30 sec.
Comment: For those wondering why it is moved to 3rd row - the reason for that is to directly connect it with 2 upgrade talents in 4th row. It is opened by both Shatter and Cone of Cold, so players can pick their preferred option.
Frigid Winds (2): All of your snare effects reduce the target’s movement speed by an additional 5/10%.
Comment: Moved to be accessible directly from Cone of Cold and Slow and now is an optional talent.
Invisibility (1): Turns you invisible over 3 sec, reducing threat each second. While invisible, you are untargetable by enemies. Lasts 20 sec. Taking any action cancels the effect.
Comment: Moved to 3rd row to be in line with Ice Block and keep direct connection with an Invisibility upgrade talent.
Foresight (2): Standing still for 6 / 5 sec grants you Foresight, allowing you to cast while moving for 2 / 3 sec. This effect stacks for 2 times. Its duration begins when you start moving.
Comment: It is a good solution for mobility issues for all 3 specs, so is suggested to be moved out of Arcane tree into general tree. Its ramp up was also reduced, as for Mages standing still for 10 seconds is too taxing.
Blazing Speed (1): Suppresses movement slowing effects and increases your movement speed by 150% for 2 sec. Castable while another spell is in progress and unaffected by global cooldown. Does not stack with Cauterize movement speed increase. 25-30s CD.
Comment: Another earlier expansions spell missed by many Mages, it allows controllable quick movement (opposed to fixed value and obstacle troubles of Blink / Shimmer) and could be a nice addition to the tree.
Row 4:
Winter’s Protection (2): The cooldown of Ice Block is reduced by 30 / 60 sec.
Comment: Slightly buffed to be more competitive with other talents. Is still optional, so can be skipped if the player wants to.
Cryo Freeze (2): While inside Ice Block, you heal for 45 / 90% of your maximum health over the duration.
Comment: Changed to 2 point investment and moved to be directly accessible from Ice Block itself (just as Intangibility upgrade for Dispersion is accessible directly from it for Shadow Priests). Now is an optional talent.
Incantation of Swiftness (2): Increases your movement speed by 10 / 20% for 3 sec after casting Blink and 20 / 40% for 5 sec after returning from Alter Time.
Additionally, Invisibility or Greater Invisibility increases your movement speed by 25 / 50% for 6 sec.
Comment: Both current Incantation of Swiftness and Temporal Velocity are quite conditional / underpowered for their 2 point investment, so I suggest to merge them into a single talent for kiting-based builds. Movement speed values could be adjusted if needed.
Rune of Power or Incanter’s Power (1):
Rune of Power: Places a Rune of Power on the ground for 12 sec which increases your spell damage by 20% while you stand within 8 yds.
Casting Arcane Surge, Combustion or Icy Veins will also create a Rune of Power at your location.
Incanter’s Power: Magical energy flows through you, increasing spell damage by 10%.
Comment: Rune of Power is controversial - many Mages hate it, but some Mages like it. To try to appease both crowds, I suggest such - increase base damage of Mage abilities by 10-15% ( like via aura), reduce bonus of Rune of Power to 20% to compensate and make it a choice node with fixed spell damage bonus that does not rotate. This should make both playstyles competitive - even though RoP would still provide bigger burst to compensate for limited mobility, the bonuses difference with mobile playstyle would be much lower and RoP playstyle would be less reliant on the rune to deal optimal damage, while Incanter’s Might mobile playstyle would be able to compete with RoP in terms of total dps via fixed static bonus, better sustained damage and less disconnect issues than RoP playstyle. If one playstyle would still be much better than other, their bonus values could be adjusted.
Grounding Surge (2): Successfully interrupting an enemy with Counterspell reduces its cooldown by 2 / 4 sec.
Diverted Energy (2): Your Barriers heal you for 25 / 50% of the damage absorbed.
Comment: Reduced to 2 point node, buffed to provide comparable value to Tempest Barrier (5 / 10% of health heal per Barrier opposed to 5 / 10% of health shield per Blink), moved to a 4th row where most similar talents are contained and made into an optional talent.
Tempest Barrier (2): Gain a shield that absorbs 5 / 10% of your maximum health for 15 sec after you Blink.
Comment: Reduced to 2 point node and made into an optional talent.
Row 5:
Ice Nova (1): Causes a whirl of icy wind around the enemy, dealing X% of Spell Power Frost damage to the target and reduced damage to all other enemies within 8 yards, and freezing them in place for 4 sec. 30s CD.
Comment: Slightly tweaked to reach power level comparable to Druid’s Mass Entanglement - both are 30s CD, Mass Entanglement applies 8 sec root, but does no damage, while Ice Nova does damage, but applies only 4 sec root to compensate. This change would also make its root much more reliable.
Shimmer or Ice Floes (1):
Shimmer: Teleports you 20 yards forward, unless something is in the way. Unaffected by the global cooldown and castable while casting.
Ice Floes: Makes your next Mage spell with a cast time shorter than 10 sec castable while moving. Unaffected by the global cooldown and castable while casting.
Comment: Now is opened by Rune of Power choice node, making it much more accessible and a part of utility path in the middle of tree.
Improved Counterspell or Blast Wave (1):
Improved Counterspell: Counterspell additionally silences the target for X seconds.
Blast Wave: Causes an explosion around yourself, dealing X% of Spell Power Fire damage to all enemies within 8 yards, knocking them back, and reducing movement speed by 70% for 6 sec.
Comment: Mass Polymorph, which is very controversial, is replaced by Improved Counterspell. This node would provide Mages with a choice between anti-caster silence tool and anti-melee knockback + snare tool, allowing to adapt to different situations better.
Row 6:
Rigid Ice (1): Frost Nova and Ice Nova root cannot be broken by damage for first 2 seconds it is active.
Comment: Reduced to 1 point investment and improved to make it more useful.
Ice Grasp (1): Ice Nova now affects only main target, but does X(75?)% increased damage to it.
Comment: Allows to turn Ice Nova into a more damaging, but single-target spell, which could allow to use it better in single-target encounters in PVE and avoid breaking breakable CC with it around the main target in PVP.
Numbing Cold (1): Whenever you attempt to chill or freeze a target, apply a stack of Numbing Cold that reduces damage done by 5% for 8 seconds. Stacks up to 2 times.
Comment: This talent makes snare and root effects more useful against CC immune targets, as should still apply a stacking damage reduction effect to them. It also makes Frost snares and roots more useful against ranged enemies.
Mirror Image (1): Creates 3 copies of you nearby for 40 sec, which cast spells and attack your enemies.
While your images are active damage taken is reduced by 20%. Taking direct damage will cause one of your images to dissipate.
Comment: Now is an optional talent alongside its upgrade. Has 3 prerequisite talents to pick from, so that players can pick the one they want / need more.
Spellsteal (1): Steals a beneficial magic effect from the target. This effect lasts a maximum of 2 min.
Comment: Now is a more optional talent.
Alter Time (1): Alters the fabric of time, returning you to your current location and health when cast a second time, or after 10 seconds. Effect negated by long distance or death.
Comment: Now is a more optional talent. Has 3 prerequisite talents to pick from as well.
Greater Polymorph or Volatile Polymorph (1):
Greater Polymorph: Polymorph no longer heals affected target, but now has X (20?) seconds CD.
Volatile Polymorph: When Polymorph is removed for any reason, it explodes, dealing Y% of Spell Power Fire damage to target [and enemies within 8 yards]. This effect can occur only once per N (20?) seconds. If Polymorph is reapplied to the same target and Volatile Polymorph triggers, its damage occurs first and the second transformation after it, so that it would not break the second Polymorph immediately.
Comment: A new Polymorph improvement choice node that allows players to pick between making Polymorph not heal its target with 15-20s CD attached to it to compensate, which could be useful for 1v1 situations or enabling “wither enemy” playstyle and adding a bit of burst damage to it, which could be helpful as additional opening [AoE] damage in solo play or additional opening damage in CC combos in PVP situations. Part in square brackets is optional. Internal CD is attached to prevent players from spamming Polymorph with instant breaking of it to trigger the explosion consequently.
If for some reason many people would miss Mass Polymorph, it could become a choice option in this node instead of Volatile Polymorph.
Impact (1): Enemies affected by Blast Wave and Improved Counterspell deal X(15?)% less damage and healing for 6 seconds.
Comment: The upgrade talent for Blast Wave choice node, it would make both talents more useful, especially Blast Wave against enemies with multiple gap closers in PVP, as they often can just rush back to you after being knocked back.
Fiery Determination (1): Duration of incoming interrupts is reduced by 20% and you suffer 50% less pushback from damage when casting spells.
Comment: One more returning talent with modifications, it could be helpful in both PVE to deal with enemy damage pushback and PVP to handle interrupts better, especially for Arcane Mages. Number values can be tweaked if needed.
Row 7:
Chilled to the Bone or Deadly Chill (1):
Chilled to the Bone: Whenever your root / freeze effects expire or are broken by damage, target takes X% of Spell Power Frost damage. This damage is doubled if these effects are dispelled or removed by abilities.
Deadly Chill: Your Frost Nova, Ice Nova and Deep Freeze deal aditional Y% of Spell Power Frost damage to enemies that are immune to crowd control effects.
Comment: These talents allow to make root / freeze effects more adapted to modern WoW, where some enemies are just immune to CC in PVE and melee often have multiple gap closers / root breaks in PVP. Chilled to the Bone is generally useful, so should be not gated by PVP as it is now, extended to all freezes and would provide value for freeze effects even if they are immediately broken out of or dispelled. Deadly Chill makes freeze effects more useful against CC immune targets via additional damage done. One note though - they should not deal too much bonus damage, so that CC abilities can be used as damaging fillers or damage while moving abilities, but are not required for optimal dps rotation, as many players would not like that.
Hypotermia (1): Whenever you attempt to chill or freeze a target, your next damaging spell would deal 20% additional damage to it. This effect can occur only once per X(10?) seconds.
Comment: This is another generally useful talent that also makes snares and roots more meaningful against CC immune enemies. However, if some Fire and Arcane players want to utilize this effect, but do not want to use CC abilities as a part of DPS rotation (as Frostbolt would proc this effect, so already covers that for Frost rotation), they could just use Frostfire Bolt - its snare effect would proc the bonus as well. Its suggested 10 sec CD that matches 10s ICD of this effect is not a coinscidence.
Duplication or Reabsorption (1):
Duplication: Mirror Image creates 1 additional image.
Reabsorption: You are healed for 5% of your maximum health whenever a Mirror Image is destroyed.
Comment: This tweaked upgrade node allows players to pick between creating more images, which would extend aggro drop / distraction in PVE and damage reduction effect in PVP to make this upgrade choice more competitive with Reabsorption and healing when images are destroyed for whatever reason, making this effect less situational.
Spellthief (1): Spellsteal costs 25% less mana and allows to maintain taken effects for up to 5 minutes if they have longer duration.
Comment: This talent allows to use Spellsteal more and also allows to make more use of taken long-term buffs, making it a decent pick for any spec.
Master of Time or Displacement (1):
Master of Time: Reduces the cooldown of Alter Time by 15 sec.
Alter Time resets the cooldown of Blink when you return to your original location.
Displacement: Teleports you back to where you last Blinked from and resets the cooldown on Blink. Only usable within 10 sec of Blinking. Instant. 30s CD.
Comment: Master of Time was slightly buffed to provide a bit more value. Also, many Mages miss Displacement effect not being attached to one of major defensive CDs for more free usage, so Displacement as a separate ability is suggested to be a choice node with MoT.
Warmed Up (1) : After using Fire Blast, your next spell deals 10% more damage and its casting time and global cooldown is reduced by 20%. This effect can occur only once per Y(10?) seconds.
Comment: This optional talent makes Fire Blast a beneficial spell for any spec rotation, allowing to make more use of it. Unlike its Frost counterpart Hypotermia, it can also be used to accelerate non-offensive spell casts compensated by having lower damage bonus, giving Mages access to on demand cast speed enhancing effect if needed.
Explosive Rage or Mage’s Payback (1):
Explosive Rage: When you drop below 35% of health, a Blast Wave emanates from your location and damage taken is reduced by 20% for 5 seconds. This effect can occur only once per X (90?) seconds. Does not affect cooldown of Blast Wave if it is learned.
Mage’s Payback: When you drop below 35% of health, you gain 2 charges of Fire Blast (Fire Mage), Brain Freeze (Frost Mage) or 2 charges of Clearcasting (Arcane Mage) and your spell damage in increased by 20% for 5 seconds. This effect can occur only once per X (90?) seconds.
Comment: This talent gives Mages access to a customizable Fire based small CD “defensive” and is based on Fiery Payback from earlier expansions. It allows to pick between Blast Wave proc that could be useful against melee enemies and Mage’s own enrage effect, which could be useful against ranged enemies or for players who like “kill them before they kill you” playstyle.
Row 8:
Tome of Rhonin (2): Increases Critical Strike chance by 2/4%.
Comment: Is now an opening talent to Frost end tree talents, as it is generally useful and synergizes with Shatter (from which following it Frost talents can benefit).
Arcane Warding (2): Reduces magic damage taken by 3/6%.
Comment: Is one of two possible non-dps prerequisites to access Arcane end tree talents. The reasoning for that is - Arcane end tree talent is a solid dps gain talent, so to prevent Arcane end tree from being the only meta for dps builds, it is compensated by addition of dps talents to both Fire and Frost branches and their end tree talents being opened by dps increasing tome talents to compensate.
Flow of Time (2): The cooldown of Blink and Shimmer is reduced by 10 / 20%.
Comment: Another non-dps opening talent for Arcane end tree talents for the same reason. Is changed to be a 2 point investment talent, tweaked and buffed to provide considerable and equal value for both Blink and Shimmer.
Tome of Antonidas (2): Increases Haste by 2/4%.
Comment: Is now an opening talent to Fire end tree talents, as it is generally useful.
Row 9:
Ring of Frost or Ice Ward (1):
Ring of Frost: Summons a Ring of Frost for 10 sec at the target location. Enemies entering the ring are incapacitated for 10 sec. Limit 10 targets.
When the incapacitate expires, enemies are slowed by 65% for 4 sec.
Ice Ward: Frost Nova now has 2 charges.
Triune Ward (1): Casting any Barrier spell grants the effects of Blazing Barrier, Ice Barrier, and Prismatic Barrier. Each absorb shield has 40% effectiveness.
Comment: Very important dispel protection tool that should be kept for Mages in Dragonflight, otherwise they will be in extremely big disadvantage against purge / dispel classes and arena comps, as almost all their defensives and some major offensive CDs are dispellable. 40% value also provides some total shield value increase, making this talent also useful in PVE. Should be accessible from both Tome of Rhonin and Arcane Warding, so that players can pick the prerequisite they like / need more.
Greater Invisibility (1): Makes you invisible and untargetable for 20 sec, removing all threat. Any action taken cancels this effect.
You take 60% reduced damage while invisible and for 3 sec after reappearing.
Shifting Power (1):Draw energy around you, dealing X% of Spell Power Nature damage over 4 sec to enemies within 18 yds.
While channeling, your Mage ability cooldowns are reduced by 15 sec over 4 sec. Can be channeled while moving.
Comment: This one is optional, as it makes balancing of Mages quite tricky. If you decide to keep it, make it accessible from both Flow of Time and Tome of Antonidas (so that players can pick the prerequisite they prefer) and merge conduit & cast while moving effects into it, without them it is undertuned. If that is too much for 1 point investment, 5 additional seconds of cooldown reduction and castable while moving effect can become a separate upgrade talent for it.
Meteor (1): Calls down a meteor which lands at the target location after 3 sec, dealing X% of Spell Power Fire damage, reduced by 10% per each additional enemy after first within 8 yards, up to 50% of base damage and burns the ground, dealing Y% of Spell Power Fire damage over 8.5 sec to all enemies in the area.
Comment: Slightly buffed to make it more viable as an AoE ability. Switched position with Dragon’s Breath, so that taking DB together with Frost end talents is a bigger point cost.
Row 10:
Deep Freeze: Stuns the target for X sec. Only usable on Frozen targets. 45s CD.
Comment: The old favourite ability back for Mages, it would give them access to an unbreakable general CC, which could be used for both setups and unhindered damage. Even though Blizzard is hesitant to give Mages access to stuns, they should in Dragonflight - all other classes would have them there, even MM Hunters, who have comparable burst to Fire Mages that is also undispellable. However, it is still a significant power boost for Mages, so is compensated by its CD nerf, DB being nerfed from 18s CD to 30-45s CD and decent point investment.
Time Anomaly or Quicken Time (1):
Time Anomaly: At any moment, you have a chance to gain Arcane Surge for 6 sec and 1 stack of Clearcasting (for Arcane Mages) / Combustion for 4 sec and 1 Fire Blast charge (for Fire Mages) / Icy Veins for 5 sec and 1 Fingers of Frost stack (for Frost Mages) or Time Warp for 6 sec.
Quicken Time: Accelerate your own time flow for a short period of time, receiving X% Haste, X% faster mana regeneration and X% increased movement speed for 12 seconds. 60-90s CD.
Comment: As not all people like to play with RNG mechanics, I suggest to add a choice between Time Anomaly (boosted a bit, so that it provides both a major CD proc and a tool to utilize it, so that it can be used more effectively, compensated by some duration nerfs) and a controllable mini-cooldown that is Arcane thematic and allows to move, perform actions and restore mana faster (so that it would be less harmful for mana based Arcane Mages, whose mana spend rate is increased alongside Haste) for players, who would like to play with less reliance on RNG.
Dragon’s Breath (1): Enemies in a cone in front of you take X% of Spell Power Fire damage and are disoriented for 4 sec. Damage will cancel the effect. 30-45s CD.
Comment: With 45s CD it is much less competitive, so it could be reduced to 30 seconds. This would make it in line with Priest’s upgraded Psychic Scream - they are both melee range AoE disorients, would have similar 30s CD, DB does damage and lasts 4 seconds, while PS does no damage, but lasts 6 seconds to compensate.
This sums up the list of my suggestions. Feel free to add your feedback and suggestions about possible changes and additions to Mage general tree. Thank you for reading!
Links to specialization trees threads if needed:
Fire Mage - Dragonflight Fire Mage Tree Suggestions And Design
Frost Mage - Dragonflight Frost Mage Tree Suggestions And Design
Arcane Mage - Dragonflight Arcane Mage Tree Suggestions And Design