they realistically probably listened to the mages that, you know, PLAY their characters.
Well, there’s a few things here…
Firstly, just like any class/spec that people claim is a “two button spec”…that’s an overexaggeration by people who either don’t play the spec at all, or aren’t playing it correctly or at a very high level.
Having said that, yes, Arcane was drastically simplified. Too much so? Eh, maybe. It’s still not even in the top 5 easiest specs in the game to play (at a high level) though.
And a simplification was DESPERATELY needed. Arcane participation fell off a cliff for a long time because it required three PhD’s to play at a high level and it was beyond what 95% of the playerbase could handle. (Arcane elitists will tell you “iT wAsnT tHaT hArD”, but it was easily top 2 most difficult specs in the game.)
I’m not elite, but I’m also not a terrible player or inexperienced mage by any means…and I tried really hard to get back into Arcane during that period. I was still just trash compared to the top players in spite of a TON of time and effort…so I walked away. So imagine what it was like for more casual players, and yea. It became a functionally dead spec.
A simplification was definitely needed.
Overall? Idk. The spec still feels in a weird spot but that’s a much more nuanced discussion beyond “too hard/easy”.
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It’s too reductive to think that Arcane is barebones just because it has three (four, actually) spells that you use in a short term rotation. Have you ever tried to play the spec to its fullest potential, looking out for stuff like variables or even the skill check that is proper positioning to avoid Arcane Orb hitting unwanted mobs?