I feel like mage, more than any other class, has very specific spec identities. If I play I fire mage I want to be a FIRE mage, not a fire/frost or fire/arcane mage, the hero specs have made these blends feel a bit off for me. Anyone else agree?
2 Likes
I don’t. Spell slinger may be the only one that’s original and not taken from anything previously established in lore with any other characters (even if minor).
They’re fine. But, I’m sure many already know that they’re not going to be sticking around long enough since stuff like this would have been better being purely cosmetic, but I’m sure they’ll try their hearts out to make it last until the last Titan. I don’t think they should and is better off pushing the cosmetic fantasy of these things, but we’ll see.
I don’t feel that way. In fact, the mage hero trees probably captured the class fantasy better than most of the others. Of course, the bar was pretty low so there’s that. I think the biggest issue with the hero talents was the disconnect between what the players expected and what Blizzard delivered, just as was the case with the talent tree revamp in DF. Players generally wanted much more depth from these changes but that did not materialize.
To be fair, they have said that they plan on this being an “evergreen” system and to iterate on it further so we can expect for it to expand and become more fleshed out as the Worldsoul Saga continues to unfold.
2 Likes
I kinda disagree, I enjoy the fact that the specs are sharing elements from each other now, the only one I find particularly boring is Spellslinger since it’s just Arcane but Arcanier or Frost but Frostier.
Frostfire is easily my favorite Hero Talent, but I have no love for Frost Mage, so I am waiting until Fire is viable again.
1 Like
I agree that frostfire is odd, but all mages use arcane. They could’ve been more unique ideas, I would’ve liked frost/arcane to be an illusionist.
1 Like
Just dont pick talents for them then
You and me both. Was really hoping we’d get some surprise tuning notes before S1 goes live next week, but Fire Mage is still in the dumpster.
2 Likes
I stand corrected. Good to know people are enjoying it
1 Like
I really do not agree actually. I missed the days where elements of each spec could bleed into each other. The hyper fixation on everything perfectly being fire themed for example has never appealed to me or made any sense.
4 Likes
Sunfury is barely arcane though. It’s so excessively fire themed it feels out of place for arcane mages.
Spellslinger is good since it’s arcane or frost themed depending on which spec you are. I don’t know why the fire chicken doesn’t become an arcane chicken for arcane sunfury.
1 Like
I dunno I’m playing around with Frostfire (Fire) and it’s incredibly fun / so visually appealing. Don’t care how much I screw over the raid I kind of actually didn’t like my birdy boi nearly as much as I thought I would
You do realize the lore of mage there are not fire and frost mages. It’s all arcane. You use arcane to convert energy to cold or heat. Specs are just to separate gameplay.
4 Likes
True we tend to forget that pinkish purple is the theme that binds us all
1 Like
To me the flavors of each tree effectively feel like:
- Fire
- Fire and Frost
- “Spell effects have been disabled for this Hero Tree”
Sunfury would feel a lot better if I could hide the super gaudy orbs. I know some people are into them, but I don’t want to see them. As an arcane mage, I can live with a fire phoenix, but between the three hero talents, nothing feels very “arcane” to me.
Spellslinger is what could have felt arcane, but honestly the splinters feel like icicles and none of the other effects are visible to me.
As far as frostfire fire goes, I feel like I’m still focusing too much on fire and not enough frost. Maybe like some cosmetic only (but purely OPTIONAL) change for some spells, like scorch and flamestrike can become “frost” spells.
I personally would like to have a main rotation of both fire and frost (with one or two frostfire spells). I also know that there are a lot of players that only want to focus on their specialized element, but there are also quite a few that want a more chromatic rotation/build.
I really think, a sort of, rostrum of transformation, but for our spell graphics (they could be located at the class trainers respectively), and that could solve the problem for BOTH parties.
I didn’t realize there were any other visible effects? The splinters are all there is to Spellslinger. Although to be fair I don’t think any hero tree adds more than 2 new visual effects but Spellslinger is shortchanged even in that department. And the worst part is that none of the spells that generate the splinters actually feel like they’re the cause since no matter what spawns them they always sort of just hover by your head until they launch, exactly like Frost Icicles but at least when you’re specced into Glacial Spike there is an animation that merges them together to form it. Meanwhile, when a Splinterstorm is triggered nothing visually interesting happens. I genuinely think the people who enjoy Spellslinger simply like it because they want all the colors of their skills to be in the same palette, which is fine, it’s just not something to base an entire talent tree on especially not when it’s supposed to feel “heroic.”
Lmaooo, quit calling him a chicken! 
While it personally doesn’t bother me that the phoenix is fiery, this would have been a perfect opportunity for glyphs that could change both the phoenix and the meteorites from Glorious Incandescence to the usual Arcane hues for those who prefer that. It really wouldn’t have been that difficult to do, just as 99% of all glyph requests aren’t big asks, but for whatever reason Blizzard never prioritize resources for those types of customizations even though they’re arguably the most impactful thing to players.
Just look at how much excitement was generated by the announcement of the revamped tier 2 sets. More than anything else in the expansion so far and by a long shot. Real big missed opportunity here by Blizzard to score some major wins with minimal effort and resources by giving people the customizations they want.