Returning mage needing help.

[Avenue 1]

Hello, 

 

To give some background, I played wow from beta to mists of pandaria with my main always a mage.  I was able to hit 90 shortly before I needed to take a break for a year and a half or there a bouts. I am starting back up and am trying to acclimate myself to the current game.  I am wanting to get into raiding and was interested in what was the best dps spec for lower item level and for high end raiding in 5.4. I have played all three over the years and like them all.  I have been trying to do some research on this and have ended up with multiple answers.  

 

Noxxic says that frost is tops using simulators: http://www.noxxic.com/wow/dps-rankings

 

Raidbots says that fire is tops and frost is bottom: http://www.raidbots.com/dpsbot/Spec_Score/10N/100/14/60/default/

 

And word on the street in my realm Blackhand says that Arcane is tops.  

 

As you can see I am a bit confused and any help would be appreciated!  

 

[Oltier 471]

Hello, 

 

To give some background, I played wow from beta to mists of pandaria with my main always a mage.  I was able to hit 90 shortly before I needed to take a break for a year and a half or there a bouts. I am starting back up and am trying to acclimate myself to the current game.  I am wanting to get into raiding and was interested in what was the best dps spec for lower item level and for high end raiding in 5.4. I have played all three over the years and like them all.  I have been trying to do some research on this and have ended up with multiple answers.  

 

Noxxic says that frost is tops using simulators: http://www.noxxic.com/wow/dps-rankings

 

Raidbots says that fire is tops and frost is bottom: http://www.raidbots.com/dpsbot/Spec_Score/10N/100/14/60/default/

 

And word on the street in my realm Blackhand says that Arcane is tops.  

 

As you can see I am a bit confused and any help would be appreciated!  

 

 

Screw all resources, to be honest. Noxxic has always been so bad... Raidbot is inaccurate because of the trends. And word on street with many "iknoweverythingaboutmages"-wannabes is even worse than any other resources before.

 

On lower item levels, frost is the best, simply because its rotation is so easy, and forgiving. You can easily screw up with fire and arcane.

On high-end raids all 3 specs will perform roughly on the same level (roughly=+-5-10k). The best for you is the spec, that you are most familiar with and you can execute its rotation most flawlessly.

[Ghanjo 37]

I agree with Oltier that frost is best at lower item levels, not only because it has a more forgiving rotation, but also because the other two specs are underpowered when undergeared. Playing fire mage without around 40% crit selfbuffed is boring since you rarely crit enough to throw out lots of pyros. Arcane is definately playable, but it starts to shine when you get a lot of mastery. My totally untested gut-feeling advice would be to play frost until around item level 540. After that, play what you like best.

 

Regarding Noxxic, it's a horrible site. Where do they get their numbers from? They post stuff like it was facts, but never share their sources. And the rotations they have for the different specs are not updated. Don't use it.

 

Regarding Raidbots, it's an ok tool, but you need to use it wisely. Since fire and arcane used to be the go-to-specs for raiding, I believe it is possible that most raiders who have played for a while are still using one of those. If more end-game raiders are using these specs, their numbers could seem like they pull ahead.

 

I don't think the mage specs have ever been this close in damage. It's a good time to be a mage.

 

EDIT: Oh, and welcome back to the game :)

Edited December 16, 2013 by Gambolputty

[Avenue 1]

Thanks Gambolputty and Oltier on your responses, it helps a lot.  I unused to use EJ and since that site is no longer current I have been looking for another reliable resource!!  

 

Thank you again!

 

Avenue

[Akraen 230]

Noxxic just uses the latest release of simcraft. I don't think they're claiming to be any authority, just a visual display of simcraft results. I'm not defending them, I hate them. But that's what they do.

 

Stay away from raidbots unless you're an analyst in real life.

 

Aside from that, read my guide for frost and you'll do amazingly well. Ask questions if you have them. We're here to help.

[Oltier 471]

WeeWilly's post deleted on request.

 

Also locking the thread, as the question has been answered in depth. If you still have any other questions, feel free to ask in other threads or just open a new topic.