Frost mage feels like an after thought. We probably had the least changes of any spec in the game. They bring back Skeletal mage and fractured frost as a 2 talent combo and nerf and prune it to oblivion. They keep a talent in coldfront that had 0% usage for the entirety of DF. I thought I would be excited going into TWW.
5 Likes
Welcome to 2008. I (somewhat) jest, but it’s not entirely incorrect. Aside from some minor tweaks and additions, Frost has barely changed at all since TBC. It’s still based on the idea of freezing enemies, and at a base level, still utilises Frostbolt, Ice Lance, and IV.
Sure, there are some “new” additions in GS, Ray and CmS, but even those have been around for a number of expansions. Anything else “new” in the way of talents is, at its core, just tacked on from previous borrowed power systems such as azerite, legiondaries, covenants, and SL legendaries. From the looks of things, that’s exactly what we’re getting in TWW as well.
This is why so many long time Frost players were salty about the “new” talent system. And following that, the rework (read: numbers tuning), and now TWW. The spec (and let’s be honest, Arcane and Fire as well) as a whole has been in desperate need of a proper redesign for a long time now. A full reworking of its core mechanics, and how it operates. No more "well some players liked this in Expansion X, so this is your new talent" No more bandaid fixes, or shiny new visuals that change nothing about the gameplay.
TWW was almost the perfect opportunity to do a redesign. Hell, DF would have been the perfect time if some exec hadn’t felt so passionately about the terrible new talent system. If they’d kept the trees to 10 talents instead of 30 (plus the 30 class talents), they could have essentially added 3 new specs with different gameplay for every class. But no. We’ll get the same, tired base mechanics, spells, abilities, and a bloated system. Frost will be forgotten once again, and we’ll be stuck with the same gameplay loop we’ve seen for the past half dozen expansions.
The hero talents are good.
But that’s only because they’re also tied to Arcane and Fire lol.
Frost Fire plays better as Fire and Spellslinger players better as Arcane.
I agree that Frost felt like an afterthought. That was also my beta impression.
3 Likes
They re-arranged the talent tree, and I liked the old position of Death’s Chill better. Now we can’t ramp on ST without picking up Fractured Frost as well which does nothing for ST. Also they forgot to remove or buff cold front.
I see it’s going to be another GS patch, but man frost feels bloated and clunky with that playstyle.
1 Like
I checked wowhead calculator today but it is not updated yet. I wanted to see the changes to the tree.
It has shown updated for me since last night.
I’m not sure what changes Frost “needs” because I don’t do too much advanced content. I’m fine with a few talent changes, but the spec otherwise feels pretty good (though I am looking forward to dropping Glacial Spike in TWW).
They just buffed it 10%. May not be optional. I like the potential increase in uptime to we with time anomaly, though i’d like to see a cosmetic option to keep it around when not active (even if it doesn’t attack). The wonderful glyphs feel wasted on a temporary pet.
As soon as the tier set bonus stops existing, I’m dropping it like a hot potato.
2 Likes
Sadly dropping GS is still a substantial loss on beta at this current moment. I’m not sure why, but they seem incapable of balancing the 2 playstyles. I miss Icy Propulsion and pre-nerfed Thermal Void. Icy Veins feels so short, and the spec feels horrendous outside of Icy Veins.
1 Like
I think its sad that frostmages got so less improvements in the beta at all.
And ya…
1 Like
I can’t deny, that I logged on to deal with talents, fixing what was reset and what not on over a dozen toons, and was a little underwhelmed with Frost.
I’m also a little annoyed I can’t tap Time Warp a second time (unless that got moved somewhere else entirely), but meh.
1 Like
It’s actually not that bad the last week or so. They should buff icicle damage so GS doesn’t dominate non GS builds by a mile.
4 Likes
Double Time Warp was removed entirely.
To me, Frost feels almost exactly the same as it did in Dragonflight. I’m still enjoying it. I’m keeping Glacial Spike for now (until I no longer have the set bonus).
1 Like
With the recent beta changes they nerfed DC again. From 12x 2% = 24 % spellpower to 15x 1% = 15% spellpower.
I don t like this at all.
Finally there was one (while sadly boring) playstyle WITHOUT going only glacial/rof…and what do they do? Nerf it…and buff ROF and glacial.
I don t want to play a 3. season with stupid glacial+ rof…pls Blizzard…revert this changes :<
2 Likes
Curious, why would you want to drop Glacial Spike?
I ask because I find the spell fun.
2 Likes
Not all of us like glacial.
2 Seasons we had to play it…i rly hope that in TWW there will be a build WITHOUT glacial and still be viable.
4 Likes
Well we had a tier set directly buffing Glacial spike and then the community voted it for S4.
Hard to ignore the spell that your set is strengthening.
But yes, I would also love a pre reworked frost mage style where you Frostbolt/ice lance/ Flurry most of the time.
1 Like
I just don’t enjoy having to use such a cumbersome spell. I prefer firing off Icicles with each Ice Lance. It doesn’t have as much burst potential, but it deals steady damage as the fight drags on.
1 Like
Based on the season 1 Tier Set https://www.wowhead.com/item-set=1691/sparks-of-violet-rebirth
Set Bonuses
Wearing more pieces of this set will convey bonuses to your character.
- 2 pieces (Arcane) : Arcane Blast and Arcane Barrage damage increased by 6%.
- 2 pieces (Fire) : Phoenix Flames damage increased by 10%. This amount is increased to 25% on its primary target.
- 2 pieces (Frost) : Ice Lance damage increased by 8%.
- 4 pieces (Arcane) : Casting Arcane Blast or Arcane Barrage has a 5% chance to make your next Arcane Barrage deal 20% increased damage and generate 4 Arcane Charges.
- 4 pieces (Fire) : After dealing damage, Phoenix Flames has a 10% chance to return to you, refunding 1% of the cooldown on Phoenix Flames and granting you 6% increased spell damage for 10 sec.
- 4 pieces (Frost) : Damage dealt by Fingers of Frost enhanced Ice Lances invoke a Frigid Pulse, dealing (30% of Spell power) Frost damage to nearby targets. Damage reduced beyond 8 targets.
you seem to be getting your wish.
Now from my perspective, anyone demanding they take away their execute style spell is just calling for nerfs to their class and working against the classes best interest.