How would you rank the Mage specs, in terms of “learning curve”/mastering the spec? (PVP and PVE)
My guess would be, from hardest to easiest: Fire > Arcane > Frost
Do you agree?
Arcane>Fire=Frost
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That’s kind of tough. It’s really easy to be very bad at them.
Also not hard to be good at them.
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Same can be said for a majority of specs in WoW, and it is pretty subjective. Then again, so is any answer to OP’s question.
Can’t speak as much from a PvP perspective, but can for the most part from a PvE one. In terms of a learning curve, I believe that Fire does have the highest, but only for making sure you have Combustion rotations down. It has the least tolerance for error when it comes to its burst imo.
Arcane runs second. I wouldn’t say the learning curve is difficult, but you’ll often see newer Mages kind of misjudge the spec. It can be unforgiving like Fire, if you mess up its CD window, but it can in some ways extend far outside of that if you mess up and Evocate. However, it’s not particularly hard . . . it’s more that you have to pay attention to resources and CDs.
I don’t really play Frost, but it’s never came across as difficult to grasp over the last two expansions—It isn’t heavily dependent on CD Burst windows, nor does it require paying attention to expendable resources like mana (or having to bank and ensure you have m certain charges of things to prepare for Burst—I.e. Fire Blast Charges/Phoenix Flame Charges or Clear Casting Procs) . . . it is just a more forgiving spec all around it seems; however, it definitely has its flaws and limitations.
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Can’t speak to Arcane but I swapped from Frost to Fire recently.
Fire has more of a learning curve and requires more muscle memory, also less forgiving if you mess up. You screw up in Frost (munch proc, use FOrb poorly, etc.) you lose maybe 5-10k damage. You mess up in Combust as fire and you lose 15-150k damage depending on how bad.
Once you have the ST and AoE Combust rotations down for fire, you’re mostly there to being a good Fire Mage. For Frost, though, you have to work harder to be good and make a lot of small optimizations. You can optimize for Fire as well but the overall DPS increase is less than for Frost in my opinion.
All that is to say that while Fire is technically harder to execute, you can be a fairly mediocre Fire Mage and do good damage, whereas you have to be a good Frost Mage to do decent damage. In some cases, you have to be a really good Frost Mage.
For PvP, Frost is easier. Fire requires a lot more knowledge and precise timings. The caveat being if your opponents aren’t very good then as Fire you basically get an “I win” button provided you know how to Combust.
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While I 100% agree with this, I do think that it should be considered that this is in the context of the current state of the specs. Had Frost continued on its Beta path we would likely be saying something somewhat opposite—as in spamming ice lance was pulling ridiculous damage (had that remained the case we would likely be talking about Fire/Arcane Mages having to optimize more to try to compete with Frost). The same could be said about Pre-Patch Arcane where the whole playstyle was literally spamming Arcane Missiles and that was essentially it (you had to start fine-tuning your skills a bit to compete with Arcane as one of the other specs).
While I realize Beta and Pre-Patch are awkward transitional points for comparing specs, ultimately my point is, that each spec has had some degenerate or powerful play styles which were both easier and at the same time allowed them to outperform the other two specs—it doesn’t really diminish the fact that when you take away what is causing the degenerate style, or take away what is boosting them to the power levels they are at and leaving them with their base kit—well . . . that leaves them with somewhat of a ranking from easiest to hardest in my opinion.
Right now those who are playing Frost are having to min-max and be on top of their game to even remain competitive—solely because they were hit with substantial Nerfs in beta. This doesn’t exactly detract away from the fact that their rotation isn’t that complex.
Consider this hypothetical:
If you took away the Infernal Cascade conduit from Fire and significantly buffed Magi’s Brand/slightly increased Clear Casting Procs for Arcane, I would suspect that you would likely see something where Fire was very similar to Frost in that they would have to min-max and really have to learn the spec inside and out to compete, while Arcane would be comparable to how Fire is currently.
Now in making this change, does this make Fire’s rotation any more difficult than it is at present? Does the change make Arcane’s any less difficult? . . . Yes, Fire would need to work harder than before. Yes, Arcane would be able to afford a mistake or two and not be as scathed because the damage during ToTM would likely offset some mistakes . . .
. . . but ultimately does the the learning curve or mastery of the specs really change in that scenario? I don’t believe that it would have any bearings on the skill cap of the specs, because the main reason the specs are performing the way they currently are is because of borrowed power and systems . . . all of this is important, but it doesn’t really address the difficulty ranking of the spec. It might have even been important in the context of this thread had OP sought out our opinion’s on spec difficulty and how much damage output the specs have, but he didn’t ask for that.
When you don’t factor trinkets, conduits, soul binds, Covenant powers, legendaries, Azerite Traits, Azerite Essences, Corruption, and Special Wrists . . . the difficulty of the specs does not really change, only their output does.
I didn’t really elaborate so much on why I ranked hardest to easiest the way I did—I kind of talked about it—but I’ve already wrote a novella here, might as well see it through . . .
All things considered, let’s take a scenario where you had no covenant/legendary/soul bind/conduits. I would actually say that Fire and Arcane are tied for hardest, while I still hold Frost as the easiest of the three.
Essentially, the reason I’m saying let’s analyze the specs without the systems is because if your trying to discuss the learning curve/mastering the spec, then the discussions shouldn’t be clouded by playing perfectly as Frost and still not beating a mediocre Fire Mage.
OP’s question is about mastering/the learning curve and I don’t think that comparisons with output considered in conjunction with skill level is the way to answer his question.
To further illustrate how I didn’t see how damage output is helpful to this conversation, consider this: if you stripped away Infernal Cascade, a mediocre Fire Mage likely would be doing not that great, but it doesn’t change the fact that the mediocre Fire Mage is still having to execute the same (well almost the same) rotation as before it was taken away. . . the output of the mage would change (likely decrease), but the learning curve would remain the same.
This is why I believe that comparing a Fire and a Frost mage cannot be done while attributing it to an easier or harder learning curve . . . because if we take away things like conduits, the Mediocre Fire Mage is then not going to perform as well as the Great Frost Mage, but nothing actually changed in terms of either’s understanding or execution of the spec. The only thing that changed was the exclusion of a borrowed power, which was propping up a Mediocre Fire Mage ahead of a Great Frost Mage, it wasn’t that the Fire Mage had an easier rotation.
The output isn’t really what defines the learning curve/mastery, rather the output is a potential consequence of a player’s inability to grasp and master the spec, or it is a potential indication that they have really worked hard and learned the spec—but it doesn’t tell us which is the harder or easier in terms of learning when comparing specs.
So what does define the learning curve and make a spec the hardest, easiest, and somewhere in the middle? I think it is subjective and dependent on the player, but breaking down the basic fundamentals of the spec in conjunction with its challenging aspects, I think that can provide context to the learning curve, but it is how the individual player performs with and perceives those factors that determines which of the specs falls into which category in terms of difficulty of the learning curve.
Fire:
The reason I still think Fire could be the hardest is based on a few things:
1- There are two—technically three, but we are pretending like conduits don’t exist—combustion sequences (one for ST and one for AoE). Although they are extremely similar, it does require being able to execute the combustion sequence in the first place, learning the second, and recognizing when one is appropriate over the other.
2- Combustion is critical. As you stated, one mess up and a Fire Mage’s DPS can plummet. While it does become muscle memory, there is always a chance of messing up. On top of that:
-lag could throw the whole thing off
-the spellqueue window/lag tolerance can also be the difference between squeezing one extra Pyro in—something which many players do not know exists
-a fat finger of an ability can throw the whole thing out of whack
-forgetting a trinket is extremely damaging
Essentially the 12 second window of combustion is going to make or break a Fire Mage’s dps. Outside of these windows I have seen Prot Pallys do more damage. If anything interferes in those 12 seconds then it hurts the Fire Mage more than it would an Arcane Mage in their burst or a Frost Mage with their CD’s.
3- This flows from number two, but rather than it be player skill mistakes or in-game issues (lag and settings), there is a significant amount of planning and fight familiarity required for Fire throughout progression, in my opinion. Timing your Combustion improperly will likely destroy your output in certain encounters where you can’t just eat the mechanic to continue on with your rotation.
During Mythic Hungering Devourer for example, if you don’t pay attention and plan ahead for the Consume you will likely find yourself in the middle of your combustion having to run from the boss and abandoning RoP, equating in essentially a completely failed combustion. The windows between major mechanics and Combustion coming off of CD can be pretty narrow in certain encounters. In my opinion it definitely requires some on the fly planning, which can only really be done by also paying attention to timings of upcoming mechanics . . . which I discuss this as well in the Arcane segment below, but I would argue this is even more crucial for Fire as its damage output outside of execute and Combustion is abysmal (while Arcane can still sustain a bit more as long as they can remain casting—on top of that, Fire will also have to watch its usage of Fire Blast the closer Combustion is about to be back up, leaving it with mainly Fireball to cast, which isn’t that much DPS).
Arcane:
There are some similarities to Fire for the reason why Arcane can be difficult, but also some pretty defined differences in my opinion.
1- Prior planning is also crucial for Arcane. If we take away Covenants that leaves Arcane’s major CD at a 2 minute cool down, making it imperative that it is timed correctly. While the actual burst window during Arcane Power is easier than the Combustion sequence, it can be frustrating because now there is some work before your burst in order to try to maximize your output—fishing for ClearCasting Procs.
This complicates it a bit more because that is more time added onto having to plan for potential interference from Mechanics (it’s not earth shattering, but it is still something that an Arcane Mage should and likely would factor in).
2- In my opinion, the hardest part to Arcane currently (more annoying to me than hard, but I will admit, it is something I would struggle with most compared to the difficulties of Fire and Frost—so I could definitely see some players having issues with it) is that now an Arcane Mage not only has to monitor a resource (Mana), but they also have to make micro-evaluations for CD usage since ToTM, RoP, Trinkets, and AP aren’t all in sync compared to past iterations of the spec.
To play completely optimally they have to consider, monitor, and ultimately make decisions based on: Mana, Arcane Charges, TotM CD, Arcane Orb CD, RoP CD, Arcane Power CD, CC Procs, Trinkets, Fight Mechanics, Blood Lust. It is just a lot to keep up with to play the spec optimally.
3- This also follows number two, but resource managent can be difficult for some players who may not be accustomed to actually having a builder/spender style of play—that if messed up—can actually destroy your damage for the fight. The Conserve phase is difficult for some players to grasp. Having to ensure you have enough mana to enter burn (and cast AB for CC Procs before starting it), while also being able to get through Burn without prematurely running out of mana trying to to get CC procs during it, could be a challenge for some (I’d say especially for newer Arcane Mages who may not be able to judge when to stop casting AB and dump charges to ensure burn is set up well).
On top of that, Evocation is unforgiving without taking Slipstream. If you hit it and begin channeling and are interrupted due to a mechanic or having to move to avoid a mechanic, there’s potential you are left in a state completely drained of mana for a good portion of the fight, and therefore, left essentially with an incapability to properly continue damage. On top of that, when you are able to Evocate back up, you’ll be placing its CD in alignment closer to the Burn CD’s which is not where you want that to be since you want to recover mana after Burn with Evocate.
Frost:
Now, from what I know about Frost, it seems the most forgiving and doesn’t require perfect play to sustain damage. That’s not to say that munching procs constantly, not being able to cast in your CD window because of poor timing with mechanics, and not knowing how to properly spend procs, wouldn’t be detrimental to a Frost Mage’s DPS; however, I believe that a mistake here and there is less impactful for a Frost Mage than in comparison to something like a mechanic stun during Combustion/Evocate or having to move out of RoP in Combustion/Arcane Power.
1- As I said earlier, I am not intimately familiar with Frost (so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong), but the hardest thing about the spec appears to be just knowing what to do with your procs. Which, in comparison to Fire’s pressure in the Combustion window with its tight timings that require flawless execution with almost no room for hesitation . . . or the micro managing of a resource, the awareness of cooldowns, and the play style switches for Arcane . . . Frost just seems like the easier spec in terms of its learning curve.
-Spam Frostbolt. If you get FoF then use it immediately following the Frostbolt.
-If you have FoF and gain another then stop casting Frostbolt and use the Proc. I think this is where some newer Frost Mages could get confused . . . It is my understanding that procs like FoF are the ultimate reason you are casting your filler spell—Frostbolt—in the first place (this is of course in the context of casting Frostbolt outside of IV + Slick Ice Leggo, which I am not really taking the interaction with Frostbolt and Slick Ice into account at all since I did not consider the systems with the other two specs).
Anyways, since your goal is to obtain procs through Frostbolt, you therefore don’t want to be capped on FoF procs and continue the Frostbolt cast. This is because in doing so you potentially miss out on gaining another FoF proc by finishing the Frostbolt cast, but remaining capped. If you were to continue with the cast, you are potentially losing out on another proc while capped, which results in a DPS loss in comparison to stopping the cast to spend the second proc, and potentially gaining another on your next Frostbolt cast.
-If you have FoF and gain a Brain Freeze proc use the FoF proc first, followed by a Frostbolt, into a Flurry (consuming the BF Proc), and finishing immediately with double IL.
-If you only have a Brain Freeze proc and no FoF, then you Frostbolt, Flurry (consuming the BF Proc), and finish immediately with double IL.
Outside of knowing the basics of your procs it appears to essentially be just spamming Frostbolt for procs and utilizing CD’s. I guess you want to use IV, Frozen Orb, spend FoF procs, put down second RoP after the first ends and IV is still active, and then continue with Frostbolt spam for procs (replacing this with Blizzard when it’s aoe. (Which I didn’t look into this, but on a low amount of targets I am assuming it could potentially be worth continuing Frostbolt as long as IV is up because of the Slick Ice Leggo—again, I don’t play Frost so I don’t actually know that at all . . . I could be 100% wrong . . . was just thinking it could be like Flamepatch where it isn’t worth using below three targets).
Ultimately what a player finds hardest is very subjective:
Are you able to quickly execute a rotation in a small time frame that doesn’t change, but has to be done perfectly . . . and any mistake will severely cut down your dps because outside of that CD the damage is low? Then maybe you would find Fire the least challenging to learn.
Are you good at timing and decision making during fights? Are you good at keeping track of multiple cool downs and knowing when to use them even if they do not align perfectly? Are you also able to switch between trying to “burn” a resource that gives more damage output and then “conserve” that resource until your CD’s allow you to go into “burning” again? If you’re good at being aware of this stuff, Arcane isn’t that complicated.
Are you capable of remembering four small scenarios that will occur during the encounter, and then subsequently able to execute the proper one as you gain certain procs? If so then Frost is probably the easiest for you.
Like I said, I’m sure that you would find players that may find one substantially easier than the other. Although Frost is much more reactionary, its play style just does not seem that complicated. You don’t have the pressures that Fire does and you don’t have to keep up with the various timings and resources that Arcane has to consistently keep track of. With Frost it just seems like you have to know how to react based on procs you get.
However, for some this may be difficult and they may find Fire extremely simple. I mean you are right, it’s an unchanging rotation really and does become habit.
You can probably find others who aren’t quick enough with executing Combustion or can’t simply remember the entirety of it, and those people may not do well reacting to the potential scenarios of Frost based on the procs; however, they may find watching timers and doing on the fly pre-planning super easy, making Arcane the easiest spec for them.
My personal opinion:
Ultimately, while I say I believe Fire is the hardest, I’m making a generalization. If I had to personally pick which of the three I believe I’d struggle with in its current state it would be Arcane. The off sync of the CD’s would be too much for me, and I’d likely miss out on specific windows where I should have used one, but held it. I think it would be difficult for me to play the spec optimally.
I’d likely struggle the least with Frost because the different scenarios are quite simple to remember—and unlike Fire the procs kind of serve (at least to me) as a mini-reminder of which scenario needs to be executed—whereas Fire doesn’t really have those indications, you have to rely on pure knowledge and memory of the sequence. Hesitating throughout it costs you more and more output.
However, in my opinion Fire isn’t too bad, I’d personally rank it second for myself. The major reason is that it only becomes really problematic when progressing on new fights (or new difficulties) and not having the mechanics timings down due to inexperience with the fight—which could (and does) lead to problems with combustion timings, resulting in some major dps loss depending on how much of an interference there was from mechanics due to the mistiming/unawareness.
Anyways, for anyone who made it through this, I’m sorry for the long post. Also, Schaden this wasn’t a direct response to you, some of it was responding to you, but ultimately I just wanted to clarify my own thoughts more firmly on the subject.
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Honestly, I could not have asked for a better answer. I learned a lot from your detailed analysis! Thank you so much for putting the time and effort to explain and share your thoughts.
Just to clarify, I asked about Mage because I’m really interested in playing the Class. I’m a relative “new player”, started playing in BFA. My first character was a WW Monk, which I didn’t quite grasp the playstyle. Moved on to Havoc DH, which I liked and enjoyed myself for most part of my BFA playtime.
Once Classic launched, I played as a Mage and I freaking loved that spec/playstyle… it was really smooth, freezings mobs, Blink away, blizzard them down… It was easy and satisfying.
Stopped playing WoW for quite a while, diving myself in other games and IRL stuff…
Then Shadowlands came out and, of course, that MMORPG hype started building up again, even though I was really busy IRL. So I could only start SL a month after the launch. At the time, I didn’t know which Class I should go for… Back to DH? What about mage? It was really fun in Classic…
After some digging and asking around, I decided to try out Hunter! First leveling as BM then transitioning to MM. Even though, Im not the greatest parse player, MM rotation and skill set feels really nice! I’m really enjoying the Spec.
Recently I’ve been watching a lot of WoW streamers on Twitch, both PvE and PvP (even though I never PVPed, I find it fun to watch). And then MDI this weekend caught my eye on youtube… The Fire Mages gameplay was insane! The damage, the skill effects, that whole feeling of the Mage class dominating the elements is very appealing to me. So that little “mage bug” started to build up on me.
I had a character boost on my account, so I decided to use it on a Mage. Boosted to 50, which I know isn’t the best thing to do if you wanna learn a Class. But I was so hyped that I didn’t want to lose time leveling. Went straight to the training dummy. Tried for a while to grasp that combination phase and it was really clunky.
So I started comparing to MM hunter, wondering if maybe I should learn other Mage Spec before going into Fire. Or maybe was I too impressed with MDI that I “jumped the gun”? Maybe the MM Hunter rotation was easier and Im just not in the “Fire Mage” level? What if I learn the spec and it’s nerfed to the ground? Idk… I’m probably overthinking this and not respecting the learning curve, which is probably harder than Hunter… cause everyone suggests playing Hunter for beginners. Maybe Hunter is more forgiving?
I’m just wondering if I should just keep pushing this Mage Alt as Fire… eventually I should grasp the mechany or should I try the other specs… or just stick to my Hunter which I know what to do…
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I agree with everything Hotandtrashy said; for PvE Fire > Arcane > Frost.
For PvP Frost = Arcane > Fire. Fire is the easiest due to much more instant casts and three schools of magic for cc.
Arcane can be a bit easier than Frost in some situations because you can still kite as Arcane with frostbolt when locked in arcane school, but as Frost you can only run, spam AE and fireblast.
I believe Hunter is easier than Mage, and the learning curve is a bit easier. Don’t necessarily let it deter you from Mage though.
Personally, while leveling, I rarely will play Fire. I find Arcane much more efficient to play at lower gear levels and in easier content. It’s like I said in my response, Fire’s entire output is essentially tied to combustion. With it being a big cd, it is almost too much for easier mobs, but has poor utilization since it is a Cooldown.
In my honest opinion, the difficult part to Fire is not in the rotation of the combustion sequence. A lot of people who haven’t grasped Fire yet would probably believe that it is the hardest part. I find the most difficult part is having to figure out the appropriate time to use combustion. That seems easy on its face, but in Mythic Raids, as I stated before, the timings can be very narrow.
Also, while Fire is a really fun spec, outside of combustion it can feel a bit painstaking to play . . . I find it particularly apparent in M+. However, there are ways to still maximize your dps outside of combustion. The differences between Fire with Combustion and Fire outside of it is definitely something you will notice in both output and the feel.
At this point, while I love Arcane (it was the only spec I played for quite some time—until I went Fire in the latter part of BFA) I would dedicate my time to learning Fire. With Frost’s recent buff, I’m sure it is doing well in M+ and probably exceeds Fire for lower level keys and PUG Groups—so if I had to pick a backup spec to learn I would probably choose Frost at this point. However, I wouldn’t go all in and choose Venthyr Frost, I’d pick Nightfae. I’d also craft Leggos probably in this order: Fevered Incantation, Triune Ward (given your interest in PvP), Glacial Fragments (but only if you plan to play Frost in M+, if you don’t then you can skip this), then probably Temporal Warp—as it is pretty good for Fire and best for Arcane.
Personally for the Maw and Torghast, I go Arcane. I’m most comfortable with running that style of content, solo, in Arcane—and I believe its kit is better suited for that content compared to Fire and Frosts. Some will argue against this, particularly Frost players who find value in its roots and slows, personally I don’t like to sit there casting something over and over that doesn’t hit hard in hopes of procs. I’d rather just nuke it down quickly.
The good news is that Arcane shares Night Fae as its best Covenant with Fire. Also, if you end up like me and find Arcane better in easier content, then it doesn’t actually need a lot more to make it work. I’ve completed all of Tor’ghast without a strong Arcane conduit and was using Fevered Incantation (the Fire leggo) in Arcane up until Twisted Corridors Wing 5–then I began using Triune Ward (which I had crafted for PVP). I never used an Arcane specific Legendary, but was still capable of easily soloing all of Torghast and Twisted Corridors completely.
If you have any other questions I’m happy to provide my opinion. Hunter is definitely a strong class, but I think Mage provides a nice challenge and can feel really rewarding when you do well (at least Fire atm—Arcane and Frost have their niches and hopefully will become more viable with the next patch).
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I actually find frost to be easier to play overall. When I play fire my dps goes way down. Mainly if I see fireball crt I have to stop cast (coz I would be pre casting the next fireball before it hits) and then use fire blast to gartunee it crt so I can instant cast FlameStrike on AoE or Pyroblast. If feels odd to stop mid cast and switch spell.
Mage spec difficulty? I rate them in the following order:
<-- Easiest to hardest -->
Frost --> Arcane --> --> Fire
- Frost is a fairly simple class of “react to the proc” and hit cooldowns when up.
- Arcane is somewhat similar in difficulty to frost with fewer procs, but with the addition of mana management. Arcane’s burn phase is very simple to execute.
- Fire is much harder to master.
- So much of fire’s dps is in its burn phase.
- The burn phase itself is very short and requires pressing multiple different buttons at just the right time.
- Screw up the burn phase and you’ll find your dps is in the gutter. Below the other specs and probably at the bottom of the meter.
At least that’s my opinion.
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I do believe frost needs an extra mechanic in the rotation, glacial spike, which could also serve the purpose of making it better in single target as it’s quite poor in that area at the moment. Personally I’ve always found fire easier than arcane.
As far as the guide suggest you don’t even take Ebonblot or glacial spike at all. Since you are mainly using frostblot to fish for proc
That’s right, they just sit there unused atm. It’s like there is the potential there to make the spec more interesting and simultaneously bring it up to par on single target but it’s not being used. That’s the point I was trying to make really.
In the context of raiding, Arcane is by far the hardest mage spec to play, and up there as one of the hardest specs to play period. The data supports this. The gap between top tier Arcane players and the median is extreme.
Fire is extremely easy to play. You basically spam Fireball until Combustion is up, then spend 12 seconds using instant cast spells. No set up required whatsoever. Whereas Arcane, you need to prepare and preplan when to use your major cooldowns.
Seriously, why do you think Blizzard hasn’t given Arcane any % damage buffs? It’s because most people who play Arcane are mediocre at it, and think its easier to play than it actually is.
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I was wondering another thing about the mage specs…
Which one of them scale better with gear throughout the expansion?
Depends on the expansion, as borrowed power makes a big difference. Take BFA (8.3, specifically) for example in which Fire was broken for AoE because it had insane scaling with Mastery that it could get from Corruption. Frost also benefitted a ton from Corruption as stacking Mastery made the Glacial Spike build really strong. Arcane, on the other hand, was weaker because it didn’t scale as well from stacking any particular secondary stat.
In the abstract I’d guess Fire scales the best with Intellect and very well with Haste and Frost “gets going” once it reaches its 33.33% soft crit cap. But that’s just my educated guess.
With all due respect and imo, Arcane is definitely the hardest of the three specs to master in pve, followed by Fire and then Frost. Bonus points if you end the boss fight with all mana spent and an Arcane Barrage when the boss hits 0 hp. Why is Arcane hard? Cooldown, proc, and movement management. Cooldowns will not line up nicely and you will have to make fast decisions on when to use or save them and try to time them so they line up when you want them. You will have to manage your procs for burst/mini burns and bank some to use for movement. You have to decide when to burn a little extra mana and when to converse more (also proper use of mana gem). Fire spec is almost too perfect. It has everything…burst, movement, interrupt, execute, and cheat death…so it is way less punishing. It’s not that it’s super easy, it’s just design very well and it let’s you adapt to almost all scenarios. You really only manage 2 CDS with Fire: Fire Blast and Rune of Power, and you pretty much just use them whenever they are up unless Combustion is coming up. Something unique about Fire is that it’s all muscle memory. Once you have that down you won’t even think about what to press next- it just sort of happens and it’s very fluid. As with Arcane I still find myself tripping over my feet specially because I mostly pug and have to adapt to the people I’m playing with, but you can easily tell a good Arcane Mage from a bad one…and that’s why I enjoy the spec so much. Frost is easy, but very fun and I switch to it all the time when I get bored of the other two specs. Anyway, I miss when a truly skilled mage could just play all 3 specs depending on the boss fight…sigh. This “choose one really optimized spec to play” mentality needs to go away.
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Fire is the easiest… well atleast for me anyway, but then again I’ve been playing fire mage for 15 years… so … shrug
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