First off, im not going fire, i hear this from EVERYONE my raid leader hates I’m not fire, every M+ team adds for high io then kicks cause I’m not fire, pvp is owned by fire. Game devs want me to go fire putting a 475 mech bracer in my chest (joke). I have really had all but a GM message me to change spec.
THAT SAID. Arcane has a couple flaws in balancing. Their dps rotation from mana cap keeps up with every other class till they oom. Then they fall back, my proposition would be one, if not all of the listed changes to Touch of the Magi to help.
-Increase proc chance from 10% to 20%, My main reason for this is because it will allow arcane mages to accumulate damage (hopefully a damage lead) that will carry them when they oom out from no clearcasting procs or when they have to use evocation (the only dps break in all of the dps specs, horrible balance really). This will also give them viability in dungeons as arcane explosion doesn’t have charge scaling anymore so its really redundant outside massive pulls (huge mana cost to no turn around) It would work similar to fire’s ignite as its cleave off single target damage. Only difference is ignite spreads every sec and is 100% uptime accumulation at 26%+ (why they are desired) arcane would b a much smaller uptime and not do as much damage as its a proc and timed explosion at 15% flat (Inopportune explosions mostly)
-have touch of the magi pulse. If it does 15% of a stored amount release 20% of the stored amount in a tick pulse aoe for same range to get constant cleave to an explosion for the rest of it. so if adds are low u can get some cleave instead of ur bomb going off after everything is dead. It does the same damage just helps with the steady stream of dps. Worst case scenario u have 2 bombs going (why are u tabbing arcane blasts but im not judging) and they build each other (at a measly 15%) but ngl that would be a cool class fantasy so cant even say it would b OP
-increase the scaling of damage conversion… 15% on a 10% proc on the only class that has no cleave. Literally the only viable cleave for arcane is touch of the magi procs!! Everyone can spam their huge aoe slaps but arcane explosion hits for 8k a target… divine storm can hit 130k a targrt but i have to hit for 8k… the scaling needs buffed to compete with the 26% base ignite scaling (they get living bomb and flamestrike and meteor, how much does wow hate arcane!!) and it increases with mastery then doubles on hot streak procs!!! Yeah 25% scaling wouldnt even change much 50% on a 10% proc rate might actually make it on par with every other classes cleave. Idk the perfect score but something has to change…
Another solution nurf fire so my whisper box can calm down.
Responses are encouraged! If anyone has any other ideas to help id love to hear them! (Oom problem from experience and every warcraft log with a long fight arcane falls further to bottom, yes there are high dps arcane but the fights are often 3min)
I don’t really agree that mana or fight length are inherent problems. The spec is designed and balanced that way. It’s actually quite good in dungeons as well if you can spec for full aoe.
But yes, a total lack of 2T and passive cleave is the reason that arcane falls off in desirability in high end raiding. So I’m all for buffs/reworks to touch of the magi.
SUMMON THE MOB! GET THE PITCHFORKS! GET THE TORCHES! ITS LYNCHING TIME!
oh, nvm.
That buff would help with damage for that talent and allow a ST-build to have more cleave to it which in principle is nice but there’s still so much wrong with the spec. You essentially still have the issue of “do I spec for single target and lose all AOE effectiveness or spec for AOE and lose all ST effectiveness”
On top of all that Arcane mages’s feet are practically stapled to the floor while fire mages can just dance around you and all the mechanics with their selection of instant casts and dot damage. Shimmering to avoid mechanics isn’t always an option. But hey, other mage specs got that too so…
Blizz didn’t give Arcane Mages anything to compensate for being a turret spec.
In legion Arcane mages had these abilities from their weapon
Touch of the Magi
Passive to Increase AP duration by 4 sec
Arcane Explosion Echo blast after 6 sec for 20% dmg
AOE dmg at Evocation completion
Increase chance of Arcane Missile Proc
Rule of Threes, rng for 3 more missiles
Additional damage if Arcane Barrage hit more than 2 targets
Larger AOE radius to Arcane Explosion
AOE Slow (oh that was so nice)
Mark of Aluneth, 1 min CD with dot, decent AOE damage, and it returned mana too.
AND 7 tiers of talents
Some of that stuff was added as talents in BfA at the expense of existing talents. There’s a lot there that should have been made baseline in the class.
Arcane needs more than just a touch of the magi buff. It needs a big rework. Spamming arcane blast is not good gameplay. It needs more. You shouldn’t be just spamming 1 button 99%of the time. Imagine if warlocks purely spammed Unstable Affliction. It’s bad enough spamming 5 UA’s. Now imagine if they pressed it all the time and nothing else, except for maybe the occasional rng proc. Yeah that’s where arcane is currently at. It has zero depth. I could take one of those bird things that Homer used in the nuclear plant to hit the y button. Arcane as well as some other specs need more than a unpruning or a small buff. They need complete reworks.
I just have one thing to say that would fix cleave disparity without breaking the spec:
Make Arcane Orb baseline.
As for buffing Touch of the Magi tho, Megumin approves and wants you to come walk the path of explosions with her
Personally though I’m not a big fan of rng effects like that. Even in legion touch was so hit or miss. If it procs during burn phase you could get a decent hit out of it while every other time it was just meh like a lot of dungeon trinkets tend to be
