Like seriously, did any other class got nearly as pruned as mage did? They took so much from it! It isn’t looking like I will want to be playing this anymore.
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it’s not just us, a lot of classes have gotten pruned and simplified.
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I know they did, which is why I asked if any other lost as much as we did.
Seems to be an across-the-board pruning of utility and defense cooldowns as if those were the problem. They’ve gone about this entirely the wrong. Situational cooldowns are fine, rotational ones were the problem.
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Losing Blastwave, big RIP, but baked into Blink? like, wth?
Please revert this change.
I hope mages are vocal and not get Blastwave removed.
Removal of Icy Veins… mah gawd!
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Ice Floes going exclusively to Frost is unfortunate too. I love Ice Floes on Fire for Gpy.
If they’re really looking to keep things “thematic” then I feel like Fire should keep Blast Wave and Arcane should get to keep Displacement. Having all specs lose both of these spells is nuts.
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We definitely need to see how things feel.
It’s no secret Mage class talents were overstuffed with utility compared to many other classes in the game. Hoping a lot of the pruning makes things feel healthier without making Mages feel even more like wet paper defensively though.
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Mate, they are removing the defensive aspects of our spells.
Mirror Images no longer reducing damage, as well as only lasting 15 seconds.
No more healing from our Ice Block
No more healing through shields.
No more mass barrier to use on images for tanking old content.
This is not good. It is alpha, and I hope things change – otherwise, soloing raids for transmog is going to be a nightmare.
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They’re also adding new effects or shifting things around. Also other classes are getting stripped just the same. Why don’t we see how it plays first.
Also… soloing raids for transmog is really your main concern? I don’t mean to be rude but seriously lol.
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I was probably one of the few players that actually liked Shifting Power – neat looking spell and visually stunning, but kind of was too strong for fire, meh for arcane and decent for frost – great for getting those last few seconds off comet storm or shields or whatever, made for some fun plays in PvP.
Yeah man, what is wrong with that? We all know transmog is the end-game. I am an old-school gamer, and I just like having spells at my disposal. Removal of ranked spells really sucked (loves using r1 frost bolts for snares and slows in PvP), then they removed situational spells (like fire and frost wards), then the mage armours (molten, frost, ice, mage), and then simplified spells where your main school loses knowledge of other spells, but you change spec and viola! – you remember fireball,.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgbKqvBNr60
Some early feedback – “where are my spells?!” lol.
There is a silver-lining in all this though – at the current rate, I may finally be able to break-away from WoW or greatly curtail my game-time playing.
Bittersweet though.
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Nothing is wrong with it but dude. You can get all transmog on any class or armor type. Play an alt to do that. You’re gimping yourself doing it on a mage honestly.
The wisest approach now is to wait and see how this new gameplay direction will settle, not only for mages, but also in comparison with other classes and specializations. Only when we have a broader and more balanced view of the overall scenario will it be the right time to suggest more concrete adjustments.
Maybe mages got too fat and needed to be gutted, 'eh?
It almost sounds like a return to Vanilla WoW playstyle. Back then our “healing” was to immediately press the buttons to eat food and drink water the instant combat ended. Even getting just a few seconds of food and drink between pulls was beneficial.
Personally, I think the game has grown too bloated with abilities and some of the rotations are too complex. It shouldn’t be necessary to use an addon like Hekili just to learn how to play a class, but right now it is.
A general pruning of everyone’s abilities seems like a good idea. Mage might not feel so gutted if everyone else is equally gutted too. Mages might still be on an even playing field.
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The removal of blastwave is a crime
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It is still there, but you gotta use Blink and it leaves a baby-blast-wave behind. I don’t think Blizzard thinks players are smart enough to use Blastwave on their own.
You also can’t use Glacial Spike on your own, you gotta let Blizzard tell you when to use it after you spam frost bolt.
Can’t have Ice Nova AND Cone of Cold, that is too many spells for our little brains to handle.
The dumbing down of the game to make it more accessible, probably for consoles, yikes. I will admit though, it is the modifiers that made the game way too convoluted, not the spells. As an example, Arcane Barrage having a dozen or so modifiers and when to use (count stacks of harmony, burden, munitions, etc).
It is the modifiers that should have went away, not the spells.
I can agree with this statement to an extent. Personally, I believe it is the modifiers being the main culprit of addons. The rotations too complex swung to the other side now, with just spamming frostbolt to build a glacial spike, and you gotta spend that glacial spike because you can’t cast frostbolt/frostfirie bolt until you do. Seems silly.
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This is how it works now just in a different spot on your bars lol
Sorry mate, this is incorrect. I can still use frost fire bolt OR Glacial Spike. I can bank Glacial Spike for a later use to line up procs, CDs, trinkets, etc.
The new proposition they are doing is your frostbolt essentially gets empowered into Glacial Spike. So, you better hope you have your procs lined up or something.
Nothing wrong with them having frostbolt give resources to use Glacial Spike, but let us bank it.
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Idk. I think we need to actually see gameplay and more iteration first. It sounds fine to me just at a glance. Seeing it in action could be a different story.
I just don’t think it’s as life altering as the icy veins removal and ray of frost focus. Or even the fact water elemental is returning.
That is fair, but man… I’ve mained mage since pretty ouch 05. Seen lots of changes, as I’m sure you and others have.
These are, by far, the worst changes I’ve seen. I’m all for removing things that take away from the focus on action (like tracking procs upon procs upon procs), modifiers come to mind.
I’m not okay with the removal of spells, that didn’t even add to combat complications for the sake of just removing. Blastwave, slow, Glacial Spike and mass barrier come to mind.
I am actually very excited for ray of frost getting some love, but at the expensive of icy veins feels sad.
Water elemental returning is definitely fan service, and I’m all for it. We used to be able to name our elemental. It was very short lived, I think it was a bug.
Either way, I hope someone much more articulate than myself, can convey how dissapointed I am in the removal of some spells. Target modifiers, not spells.
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