My fellow mages,
I’m not throwing the “nerf the MT” pitch, but rather want to constructively express some degree of my frustration in the hopes of getting some ideas how to best proceed.
As some background, I’m a proud mage. This was the first character I rolled, 17 years ago this month, and has been my main that entire time. I’ve played various iterations of all the mage specs over the years. This expansion, I’m Arcane.
I don’t account myself a great player, but at least a competent one with a good deal of experience. Through sheer stubbornness (repeated attempts), I’ve managed to do the old Challenge Modes, Endless Proving Grounds, and 6 out of 36 versions of Legion Mage Tower. Again, I attribute this more to pure OCD completionist stubbornness in beating my head against a goal until I can get it, rather than innate skill.
However, this technique doesn’t seem to be working for me with the 9.1.5 MT as Arcane.
I’ve made just over 70 attempts thus far, and unfortunately I cannot progress past about 60-70% health.
I’ve watched the guides and read-up on the strats. I’ve tried the single-target technique as well as the AoE method. I’m using the SL raid gear that I have because… well… that’s what I have.
Unfortunately what it seems to be boiling down to is that I cannot process information quickly enough to react consistently for the length of the fight, despite knowledge of the mechanics and practice. I’m becoming increasingly frustrated by those who have completed this goal saying, “It’s easy, you should be able to do it in only a few attempts.”
I find myself wondering if I’m just slower than I used to be (I started playing this game when I was 24–17 years ago). I’ve noticed that a lot of the streamers who have made these guides all seem to be in their 20s. I know age alone shouldn’t be an excuse, but I really find myself wondering if this particular challenge has hit me at my skill cap, and my brain and physical reaction speed just won’t go any faster. Physical limits are a real thing, after all.
I do know that my better attempts (at around 60%) are on tries where I do the single-target method, because I can keep Sigryn CCed, mostly ignore the caster, and focus on Jarl, switching to the caster only for the shield and interrupt. The problem here, as I’m sure those who have done this will attest, is that I don’t pull enough single-target damage quickly enough before the mechanics become too much. AB spam just doesn’t do it.
For the AoE method, sure, the AEx4,ABarr method pulls more damage, but things spiral out of control quickly after the initial burst. I can’t keep the mobs together and stay out of Jarl’s enrage radius, all while tracking the other lethal mechanics.
What you do you guys think? Is my frustration justified? Shall I just keep beating my head against the wall for another 50 or 100 tries? When does one give-up and accept their limits, and when does one keep burning hours making no progress?
I’m aware some other trinkets may help my damage output some, but the advice from folks is so varied that I have no consistent ideas for what to aim for, or if it will really make a difference when I get overwhelmed my mechanics so quickly. I’m all for admitting my gear isn’t optimal, but if it won’t make a difference, then it hardly justifies farming it.
Regarding add-ons to help, I am an add-on minimalist and prefer the default UI, but I have started using DBM with the module for this encounter. Unfortunately the mechanics alerts seem to only underscore my frustration in that I can get a big giant alarm something is coming, but can’t process it fast enough while doing other things. I seem to be doing about the same with or without DBM (indeed, one of the reasons I’ve stopped using DBM while raiding is that the alerts become overwhelming and I prefer using only the tools the game gives me).
Anyway, that’s about all I had. I didn’t want to just rant, but see if any one else out there shares my frustration or has perhaps some constructive insights on how this challenge might be made more attainable, or perhaps even suggest that it simply takes yet more practice.
Thoughts?