"It's only Alpha" ... and soon "it's only Beta?"

Hey mages,

I’ve now read early reviews of all three mage specs on Shadowlands Alpha. I’m not jumping for joy. All three seem to be in the same boat we’ve been in for BFA with disconnected game mechanics and a general “We don’t know what to do with mages” vibe from the devs. Even a streamer who’s vid I watched said the equivalent of “I feel really bad when I have to talk about mages.”

I was hoping to go back to arcane but it’s not looking likely. Could stay fire but seems the damage is low (typical for start of expac) and the mastery ignite spreading needs to be worked out. Was hoping for frost but can’t say what I read about it makes me hopeful.

I’ve never NOT mained a mage but I can’t spend another expansion like BfA hoping for borrowed powers to fill in gaps, dealing with gameplay mechanics that aren’t fluid like other classes/specs, and even playing a spec I don’t really want to play just to be functional.

Just wondering what y’all are thinking: is this a “don’t worry it’s just Alpha” situation or are we in dire straights for a second expansion in a row?

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I kind of gave up on being a glass canon and just dealt with how my mage is lol only because at this point there’s sentimental value in her now haha…the only thing I know is that we don’t have legendaries or Soulbinds yet on alpha to make a full judgement…it might be ok with those things and i’m hoping it does but you never know I guess…only time will tell

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That’s my concern though: another expansion of relying on borrowed mechanics and gear without anything to address the core issues.

Looking at the feedback so far I’m probably just going to stay fire when I would rather go back to arcane or, at least, frost. There have been core issues with all three specs that they just ignore expansion after expansion and it’s getting to the point I think I’d rather ask my guild what it thinks it’ll need in SL and main that.

There are mage datamined Legendaries on WoWhead and Icy Veins. Fire and Frost look good. Arcane looks dismal except for 1.

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Borrowed power is a trend that must come to an end.

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Agree 100%.

Probably why I’m sadly going to stick with fire if they can finesse the ignite spreading mechanics. Seems to be the one mage spec with the least issues, fullest tool kit for all content, and relies the least on borrowed power.

My personal arcane dream is dead, it seems.

Mage is looking so disappointing in SLands that I’ll be maining a tank or Enh Shaman for at least the first raid tier. I’m not even sure if they’re doing anything to Enh, but it looks fun.

Maybe by the second or third raid tier Mages might be in a position where they’re somewhat fun to play, like it was in BfA. Either way, that first raid had better be spectacular because I’m so done with “farm currency/AP/power” and a lack of flight. If the game isn’t fun, I can think of better ways to spend my $4 a week than logging in for 3 hours of raiding (like 2 glasses of wine).

Agreed.

When I tried out arcane n BFA alpha and knew there was no way I could play it when BfA went live, I had a moment of “maybe I should main something else for BfA.”

I stuck with mage … and it’s been painful. Granted, I fought against going fire until the very end of last tier so at least I’m functional for one tier of raiding but here I sit … again … staring at what’s to come for mages in a new expansion and I’m thinking again “Maybe it’s time to main something else.”

There were many, MANY things I did NOT enjoy about BfA but alot of it would have been tempered if I wasn’t playing a class that was so broken for an entire expansion and/or actually could play the spec I want to play and not be forced into a spec just to be competitive.

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You can be competitive as a mage and play the spec you want…as long as that spec is fire. It is pretty clear that is what the developers want.

If you look at the alpha feedback for mages numerous posts about fire, frost and arcane. Only blue posts and updates are for those issues that concern fire and those changes are pretty sparse.

I’m glad that Blizzard seems to be listening to feedback, just sad that the feedback they are addressing is for only one of the three specs. Every new alpha build they seem to look at other classes with terrible specs and actually do something. But with mages it will be the same thing nothing will be done throughout alpha and beta then Blizzard will try to correct by updating numbers but will do nothing to correct the underlying issues.

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Wish I could disagree with you but I can’t given that they pretty much ruined arcane (and don’t seem interested in fixing it or improving it) and they changed next to nothing about frost.

If there are devs who play mage (doubtful), it’s pretty clear which spec they play (conspiracy theory but I’ll stand by it).

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You are not alone in your feelings Aedred.

Change main is looking like what my answer will be and that will be a melee since they don’t pay a fee for having to move. Guess I could give BM hunter a hard look and stay ranged that way.

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Totally agree with your post.

Will definitely look to main some other class after being a main mage since I started to play 12-14 years ago.

I just looked at the class numbers and it seems everyone is going BM Hunter lol.

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I’m looking at either my druid or warlock (since Affliction looks promising) … if nothing changes on alpha for mages and what they have now goes live.

Honestly just can’t spend another expansion like BfA.

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Yeah i’ll stay mage lol

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I want to, believe me. I enjoy our mage talks on Btag but I can’t ignore that this expansion was hard for me to enjoy as the first time playing WoW that I wasn’t playing arcane.

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Maybe they will make sweeping changes to arcane. I have hope that they will, just like I have hope that they will remove voidform for priests, or let enhancement shamans use 2 handers…okay so no hope. :hugs:

Give me WoD shadowpriest any day of the week.

But yeah, hope for some specs is futile.

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I understand and like I said, it’s mostly 2 things for me why I stay mage…#1 i’m extremely attached to my mage ever since I started her from level 1 lol and #2 i’m very familiar with how my mage works and don’t want to try start from scratch with a brand new character…

I am thoroughly underwhelmed by the changes thus far to frost and arcane. It feels like the BfA beta where I kept waiting to see when the rest of arcane’s kit would be filled in.

For reasons I cannot explain I still had a tiny bit of hope they were working on shadow priest. That got shredded before I even finished reading the blue post about adding back devouring plague and a change to shadow word death. At least that lemon has been turned into tasty lemonade. Speculation of how devouring plague might wreck havoc on the voidform mechanic has been kind of amusing.

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I will say that I understand where a lot of people are coming from when they are disappointed with specific specialization changes (or lack thereof). For years, I was a “frost mage.” So much of that identity went all the way back to Faxmonkey and the videos he made and how inspired I felt by them.

However, after playing the game for so long, I finally started embracing the identity of “mage” instead of a specific sub class. I think this has really helped my enjoyment of the class as a whole since I wasn’t pigeonholed into a spec or build that wasn’t performing to my expectations.

If someone takes a different route I’m not saying that it’s wrong or that they shouldn’t feel that way, but for me, personally, knowing that I can play any of the specs and change depending on the state of the specs has given me a greater freedom and sense of enjoyment that I wouldn’t otherwise have had. I don’t have to be so stressed because “my spec” isn’t performing as well as one of the others.

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I’ll definitely play my mage in Shadowlands, but I’m highly considering playing my elemental shaman because it feels more fun than my mage right now. I don’t care for fire but can play it if I have to (I guess), frost is wimpy unless you get lucky with procs, and arcane lacks in cleave/AoE damage.

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