I prefer Arcane — Am I being a jerk?

[aelwyn 0]

I, like many of you, have several characters. One of them, obviously, is a mage... and I'll be the first to admit I'm not very good. I'm not in a raiding guild, so I'm relegated to LFRs (which, honestly, I don't mind — it's good theater), and my iLevel is laughable (518 at the moment), though I'm doing what I can to improve it with what's available to me via LFR, valor upgrades and crafting. Plus, in the pecking order among my characters, the mage is fairly low if I'm being honest. But I still like it a lot.

 

I've tried raiding as a frost mage... and I've tried raiding as an arcane mage. Now, it's my understanding that at such a low iLevel, the frost spec is going to allow for higher DPS than arcane — my own experience has certainly corroborated this notion, and by a fairly wide margin. On any given boss fight, I'm doing roughly 70% of the damage as arcane that I would have as frost.

 

I'm sure that gap could be narrowed if I improved my skill, and it would apparently be more narrow if my gear were better. But the reality is that, for whatever reason, I vastly prefer playing as an arcane mage. I have no idea why, but I just like it 100x more.

 

So, in your opinion... knowing that I could contribute more to the raid in the frost spec, does it make me a jerk if I play as an arcane mage anyway? Or should I just be selfish and play what I want?

[Elro 47]

Play what you want. If you were in a progression raid, that'd be one thing, but if you're just doing LFR on the mage, do whatever makes it more enjoyable.

[Berlinia 168]

Hello aelwyn

Okay from a strictly factual perspective the thing is that your Arcane Gameplay would be bad. Arcane is purely and experience spec and it's more difficult to pick up than the Frost/React-to-procs gameplay. Arcane needs planning and knowing mana costs which needs some longer playing.

@Elro: even in progression raiding both specs are good and I would even argue towards frost due to it being far more consistent.

But he does have a point. This game is all about having fun. If you have fun by playing Arcane then do exactly that. None, not an LFR-hero, not a raider, not a hardcore raider, not even a guild master can tell you what to do to have your own fun. 

Not saying you should be a dick if you were in an organized guild. But you get my drift. As far as you are not holding back a team of people and not random people, then do whatever tickles your fancy!
 

Cheers
Berlinia

[Elro 47]

@Berlinia: Oh, I totally agree that both are viable in progression, I just meant in progression, there can be more pressure to play whatever you do the most dps in, as opposed to personal preference. It varies from group to group, I think, but you know what I mean :)

[Zagam 1,982]

I'm playing Arcane on my alt Mage, and it's been AWESOME.  Frost, to me, is extremely boring, much like Destruction is on my Warlock.  Arcane was a bit painful to learn with such a steep penalty coming from screwing up a cast at 4 Arcane Charges - but I love playing it.  Just got to Runestones and at 545 item level, so the cloak will be a very nice upgrade.  Last night on Sha, I burst up to 700k without a flask or pre-pot.  I'm sure I likely could have done that as Frost, but weaving Arcane Missiles and Barrage in an organized, planned fashion comes off with a better flow than relying on RNG procs for Frostfire Bolt or Ice Lance procs.  Plus, it's nice to inform people who just think Arcane is still AB spam when it's actually a pretty intricate spec all things considered.

 

Playing any spec in the game doesn't make you a jerk.  You adapt and learn the specs and then perform.  The one hindrance I dislike about Arcane is being tied to your Rune of Power.  It feels super lame for a while, but then it becomes second nature.  Playing Arcane has actually gotten me more prepared to lose the overpowered mobility I have as a Warlock since my feet are mostly rooted as Arcane.  As long as you are having fun, you'll be fine.  There are too many people in the game that think there is a right and wrong way to play.  I continuously run into Warlocks who tell me how to play a Warlock (which I find hysterical) when I'm on my Mage who are so wrong but can't be deterred.  I get similar responses on my Mage - you should be playing Frost.  I kindly disregard their statement and tell them to focus on themselves instead of others.  Hang in there with Arcane - it takes a bit getting used to, but once you get the feel of RoP and how to manage your mana, the spec feels really fun.  I can't wait to experience it at higher item levels.

[Belicosa 11]

I remember this sort of discussion at the beginning of Wrath. The "new" Frostfire spec was doing mad dps until it got nerfed in a patch (like Destro did in Pandalanda). I was in a progression group and the leader suggested that I explore Arcane.

 

In DS, Fire was the "preferred" spec, but most progression teams had an Arcane mage for the group buff (which died with the release of Panda).

 

Consensus in MoP is that all three specs are viable if you pay attention and learn the nuances of your spec. Arcane does, as previously mentioned, have the highest learning curve, but it can also be the most rewarding. Due to miscommunication  in a raid team server swap, I ended up with two mages. My Arcane is 564 ilvl and my Frost is 533 (obviously, the Arcane mage is my main). The more I play the frost mage however, I am glad that I will have the option to chose either spec to focus on when WoD drops.

 

And if I feel like playing Fire I get on my Destro Lock. 

[Eliadann 0]

Just a question, Zagam. How in the nine worlds you burst at 700k at Sha with 545 if ilevel? or any other encounter, actually.

 

I assume I am kind of a newbie as far as playing WoW mage is concerned, and I am happy enough whenever I stand somewhat over 200k at Sha (or any other encounter) and this is with 556 ilevel, regardless of playing Arcane or Frost. It might be that I am doing something terribly wrong, or maybe that I did misunderstand you.

 

This is my armory link I post logs and then, not that I want to start a DPS discussion offtopic in this thread, but curiosity on this is killing me:

 

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/minahonda/Assnar/simple

 

Thanks man,

 

- Elia -

[Zagam 1,982]

Just a question, Zagam. How in the nine worlds you burst at 700k at Sha with 545 if ilevel? or any other encounter, actually.

Some good RNG with pretty good play.  Bloodlust at the start, all procs live, and 2 charges of Arcane Missiles.  Alter Time - > Missiles x 5 (3 4pc procs), Alter Time triggers, 3-4 more Missiles (4pc procs), then a good Barrage.  I probably should have used Barrage before Alter Time wore off, but I'm still a rookie. 

 

At 553 this weekend, I bursted up to 825k - again, with good RNG from 4pc.  It's not as consistent as my Warlock, but it feels pretty fun to rotate between 3 buttons with one of them feeling like an assault rifle.  With this legendary buff, I should get cloak, bump to 560, and get into a real pug raid that is able to clear stuff instead of derpy groups with bad players who get held up at Nazgrim.  I'll be putting a lot more time into mastering Arcane at that point.

[Elro 47]

I'd probably play Arcane more, if I still played with my mage more than once every 2 weeks. The general idea of playing whatever spec you want, however, I embrace fully. That's why I told my raid I was going Demo, and they'd just have to deal with it :P still performing well, so no one has any reason to complain.