Mage Help - I can't find a proper source or reason as to why I suck...

[Dinki 0]

G'day ladies and gents.

Here are 2 links based on me.

 

Armory

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/jubeithos/Gigeth/simple

 

Logs of Raid night (10th Dec) (Butcher normal is as good of a guide as any)

 

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/a1pgpgroasnaq3t9/details/34/?s=30&e=232

There is a mage in our raid, who consistently out does me on DPS. Sometimes by as much as 4-5k +. (name 'Kengaged' in this one.) He did >1m more DPS than me, over the course of this fight. Near as I can tell, our gear is comparable. 

Here, for reference, is a link to his Armory.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/jubeithos/Kengaged/simple

This is the first time I have raided on a mage since BC (2/48/11 for life yo) and I find myself struggling hugely to keep up with someone comparably geared.

It may also be noted that I raided as a DPS warrior for the entirety of WotLK, and the first half of Cata, and then haven't played again until the release of WoD.

My opener is as follows: Prepot (-2) > Mirror Image (-1) > Hard Frostbolt with Waterjet for 2 x FoF proc > Bomb Boss > Crystal > Icy Veins > 1 x Lance > Frozen Orb > Expend all procs > Hardcast for procs

There are a lot of things I have trouble with, examples:

 

>Using Crystal when I have nothing else available (cd wise).
>When I have Orb available, do I bomb the boss, then Orb?

>Do I spam Mirror Image as available?
>Do I use Water Jet for procs first then bomb the boss? Or the reverse?

Every time I look at ability use by other mages, their Ice Lance usage seems to be higher than mine, I use it only when I have: 2 x FoF or Water Jet available, or Orb available.

Any and all help, is greatly appreciated..   

TY in advance.

  Dinki

[Oltier 471]

Please, upload your log to warcraftlogs.com instead.

[Dinki 0]

I didn't take the log, and as far as I know, it was only uploaded to World of Logs.

I will endeavor to see whether this is the case.

[Oltier 471]

I didn't take the log, and as far as I know, it was only uploaded to World of Logs.

I will endeavor to see whether this is the case.

The problem is WoL was really hard to read, even in MoP. It hasn't been updated for a looong time and warcraftlogs is just much more powerful.. And accurate.

[Imagine81 0]

 http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/area-52/Imag%C3%ADne/simple

 

My armory link  first off mage bomb and crystal are a mistake. My opener is comet storm then ice nova to freeze for the shatter crit. Frost bolt unless procs are up-repeat. Keep everything else on cooldown and ypu should see a nice boost. I'm running 15k single target 20-25k multi target.  Here is link to my talent build. http://us.battle.net/wow/en/tool/talent-calculator#eba!1202222!LWdOnh

 

In longer fights i get more out of encanter's flow than i do mirror image so said good buy to the mini me's. Frost i never use rune of power cause frost is way more mobile with our procs. Cold snap with Glyph of regenerative ice will make your healers happy and hard for you die if done right.

 

Any questions u can find me in game i'll be happy to help. I'm on area52 just copy paste name from armory alt code in my name.

[Dinki 0]

With respect to the last response, I am currently performing higher that 15k Single Target for Butcher.

[Berlinia 168]

Im on my phone now, but your opener is spot on. One little thing if you cant guarrantee the IL cleave off the crystal on the bomb then bomb the crystal!

[Oltier 471]

 http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/area-52/Imag%C3%ADne/simple

 

My armory link  first off mage bomb and crystal are a mistake. My opener is comet storm then ice nova to freeze for the shatter crit. Frost bolt unless procs are up-repeat. Keep everything else on cooldown and ypu should see a nice boost. I'm running 15k single target 20-25k multi target.  Here is link to my talent build. http://us.battle.net/wow/en/tool/talent-calculator#eba!1202222!LWdOnh

 

In longer fights i get more out of encanter's flow than i do mirror image so said good buy to the mini me's. Frost i never use rune of power cause frost is way more mobile with our procs. Cold snap with Glyph of regenerative ice will make your healers happy and hard for you die if done right.

 

Any questions u can find me in game i'll be happy to help. I'm on area52 just copy paste name from armory alt code in my name.

May I ask what the purpose of this comment is?

It's a nice thing to offer help, but giving out misleading information is not really helping.

[Berlinia 168]

In regards to the last comment please disregard it, I could see nothing of value there.

[Dinki 0]

So they were only loaded to World of Logs.

[Dinki 0]

I have another, related question: 

When in 'general rotation' phase, I am ALWAYS waiting for 2 x FoF procs (assuming I don't have Water Jet or Orb available/coming up)

Do I:
>Never Ice Lance without 2 x FoF + Frost Bomb'd Target?
>If I do get 2 random procs, do I cancel my Frostbolt cast, apply frost bomb, and expend FoF charges, or let the hardcast go through?

Edited December 11, 2014 by Dinki

[Conamus 3]

I have another, related question: 

When in 'general rotation' phase, I am ALWAYS waiting for 2 x FoF procs (assuming I don't have Water Jet or Orb available/coming up)

Do I:

>Never Ice Lance without 2 x FoF + Frost Bomb'd Target?

>If I do get 2 random procs, do I cancel my Frostbolt cast, apply frost bomb, and expend FoF charges, or let the hardcast go through?

You should go ahead and finish your cast then put bomb on the target for ice lance.

 

For the first question, I would try and pool the charge until i get a 2nd FoF proc, but i see no reason to not put bomb on the boss for the ice lance seeing how water jet will probably be back up before the bomb wears off.

Edited December 11, 2014 by Conamus

[Berlinia 168]

never wait for 2xFoF

[Darkside 0]

I'm of the opinion that Mage is actually kinda hard to play well. Like the OP I'm a fairly experienced raider who sat out Cata and returned to the game at the tail end of mists. I'm new to Mage and am working hard to master all of the advice supplied on this site.

IMHO the earlier poster who advised moving away from FB and Mirrors etc is right to a degree. For those that have a hard time managing 5 cool downs while not standing in fire at the same time, his advice will show a Dps increase. I tried it at the recommendation of my guildies and my deeps went up about 1k.

With that said, I totally believe in the advice on Berlinia and that his guide and build and rotation WILL result in higher Dps. Once you have learned to manage all of the moving parts involved.

Glad Mage got a buff. Tired of being treated like a noob because my Dps was so bad.

Cheers!

[Dinki 0]

never wait for 2xFoF

Any chance of an elaboration?

Do you mean when I have 1 FoF proc, I should Frost Bomb then Ice Lance then hard cast for more procs?

[Lupo 0]

Sadly on the phone I can't tell your DPS, but I'm assuming you're around 18k and attempting to reach 22 or 24.

I recommend avoiding frost bomb as well, it's unwieldy to use at the best of times and with a lot less planning Ice Nova can really exploit the power of your cds.

Why not wait for 2x fof? Assuming you're not bothering with FB and using ice nova instead, it's easy to tell FoF are out bread and butter. Never wait on capping them so you never need to worry about wasting extra procs. Don't even wait on 2 when prismatic is about to come off. I just make sure I have 1 of each: Ice Nova, FoF and Brain Freeze which makes for a good enough burst on it. Everything is used off cooldown so nothing is ever wasted. Honestly if you start out as strong as your friend and fall off during the fight it's cd management.

[Berlinia 168]

Any chance of an elaboration?

Do you mean when I have 1 FoF proc, I should Frost Bomb then Ice Lance then hard cast for more procs?

That's what I do. But never sit on 1 proc because you get the chance of overwriting one :/

[Berlinia 168]

Sadly on the phone I can't tell your DPS, but I'm assuming you're around 18k and attempting to reach 22 or 24.

I recommend avoiding frost bomb as well, it's unwieldy to use at the best of times and with a lot less planning Ice Nova can really exploit the power of your cds.

Even though it's unwieldy, it is going to become the best choice by far, and it is the best choice right now when more targets are involved. So learning to use it now, rather than when you are learing the mythic mechanics, is just beneficial to you.

 

 

Why not wait for 2x fof? Assuming you're not bothering with FB and using ice nova instead, it's easy to tell FoF are out bread and butter. Never wait on capping them so you never need to worry about wasting extra procs. Don't even wait on 2 when prismatic is about to come off. I just make sure I have 1 of each: Ice Nova, FoF and Brain Freeze which makes for a good enough burst on it. Everything is used off cooldown so nothing is ever wasted. Honestly if you start out as strong as your friend and fall off during the fight it's cd management.

 

 

 

 

If you do use Ice Nova, then there is absolutely no reason to even consider 2xFoF, just use them as they proc. And having one of each isn't true either. When PC is about to come off CD you just wait for it and sync it with Frozen Orb. You can also time your Ice Novas to always have 2 of them for the 12 second duration of PC.