I understand that a lot of people were unhappy facing off against mages that used the triune legendary in arena. Since the nerf, the legendary seems like it would be a bad choice but at the very least it offers some buff cover for alter time/ice form/hots. My first game after the hotfix caught me off guard. I hadn’t known about the hotfix yet, got charged/stormbolted by a warrior and died in that first stun, even with my barriers up prior. I’ve considered what to use in it’s place but my biggest issue is the amount of damage I take from melee cleaves. Even with getting all versatility gems/enchants and picking soulbinds to my make my character more durable, I’m still feeling incredibly vulnerable. As of now all three shields can be destroyed instantly by a damage ability rather than dispels. Obviously damage in all of shadowlands is incredibly high but I’m fearful of even casting my main damage spell because I could get kicked in frost and die.
I do think that mages have a great toolkit of defensives like alter time and ice block, but my health spikes so frequently that I’m unable to even react to these oncoming attacks sometimes.