Question concerning Frost vs Arcane

[oldark 0]

From what I've read online arcane should start to be on par or superior to frost around 2-set and 550.  However using AMR to optimize for each and plugging into simC I'm getting results of 244298 for frost and 237171 for arcane.

 

The specific character in question:

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/dunemaul/Nyminia/simple

 

AMR optimization used default for arcane and changed soft haste to 14242 for frost and simC was ran with default options for both cases.

 

Am I doing something wrong in setting up stat priorities or is the information I read outdated?

 

Thanks!

[durrtygoodz 60]

Simcraft does not give accurate dps results for mages.

[Berlinia 168]

a) SimC provides results that are not realistic due to RPPM trinkets and Alter Times not being properly written in the APL (#voltaa)

generally do not consider swapping specs when you are not 100% comfortable with the new spec. The truth is that Arcane is far harder to play correctly in a raid environment but if played 100% optimally it can indeed provide better results. Just don't expect jumping over to Arcane will instantly make you do x more dps. In the first few weeks it will probably be a dps decrease!

Just keep this in mind. At those item levels it's all about gameplay rather than spec. Akraen at 550 Frost would do more than you at 550 Arcane due to pure better gameplay/experience! (just giving an example)

So Gameplay > SimC = incorrect

[oldark 0]

As a followup, I am interested in trying arcane outside of guild progression for a change of pace. Is there a recommended way to practice a new spec or just get a basic rotation and jump into LFR's?

[Berlinia 168]

Hello again mate
As a rule when trying to learn a new spec there is a step that is extremely boring and non-rewarding to do but can provide you with huge experience when playing. That is practicing on a training dummy. Stay there untill you get the rotation right and you feel that you are not making any mistakes. Read the IV guides, they are extremely well written and provide you with most of the necessary information (except snapshotting). You can further on read the snapshotting guide that can be found in these forums.
After that you can jump in LFR's but these are so absurdly irritating to do that I personally avoid them as if they are the lochness monster (to be honest I would prefer facing the Loch Ness Monster rather than doing another LFR).
Flexes are far better to practice in as if you know the rotation perfectly you can now apply it to encounter Mechanics.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Berlinia

[Dutchmagoz 30]

As people said, don't take simcraft literally, there's some issues with it, but they're being worked on! 

 

From a more practical point of view:

 

Frost and arcane are rather close at higher itemlevels, but 550 is not really one of them. Theoretically, yea, arcane and frost are nearly identical at that item level, however: Arcane is less mobile than frost, and way more punished by stuff going wrong in raids. I would stick to frost as long as you're more comfortable with it than arcane, because trust me: when something goes wrong, and you're arcane, you really can't do much about it to help the raid, you just stand there and keep nuking the boss. 

 

To answer your question about learning a new spec: What I personally do when learning a new spec/class:

- Spend a bit of time on the dummies, make the keybinds for all the important abilities musscle memory. Including abilities like iceblock and greater invis. 

- Do a flex or LFR a couple of times, to make sure you can really use all your abilities without thinking about them in practice. This is one of the most important things, you need to be able to use all your abilities and react to procs without thinking.

- Review what you did wrong, and make a conscious note of improving on them, both in the LFR/flex raids, but also in your normal/heroic raids. You can do this by checking your logs afterwards, or just telling yourself mid fight 'shit, I just did this wrong, don't do it again'.

[lynx 19]

Main issue with SimC and arcane/frost mages currently is simplistic action priority lists with respect to alter time, and absence of snapshoting (there are some other minor issues as well).

Both of these issues can be solved by modifications of the default list.

Another thing is that there's no patchwerk fight in SoO. Normal Malkorok is the closest, and even there you have to move. While SimC's movement scenarios don't necessarily resemble movement (and overall mechanics) in real encounters.

 

After going through the code several times, I didn't find any problem whatsoever with RPPM stuff. It all seems legit. But if anyone has more specifics I'd be happy to hear them and have another look.

 

Fire however, requires far fetching and non trivial modifications to the action list. And it's the only spec I would say that the default action list is very far from the real world.

Edited May 11, 2014 by lynx

[oldark 0]

Thanks for all of the responses.

[Berlinia 168]

Good luck on your future endeavors fellow mage!