Clear Casting

[playingtokrush]

Here's my little head scratcher:

Frequently my Mage makes the clear casting sound and gesture but no clear casting icon appears on screen. Mana seems to be consumed during the subsequent cast, but, if I've observed correctly, not at the same rate as it would be in normal casting.

Is there any other situation that evokes this exact combination of gesture and sound? If there is, what is it?
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I've never experienced -- or even heard of -- this behavior before.

[Alram]

First let me say that leading with frost bolt followed by fireball will elicite clear casting regularly. Not always two clear casts per battle as Skan noted, but then my battles probably don't last as long as Rylea's. Also AM will dilute the effect. So thank you everyone for all of that!

Here's my little head scratcher:

Frequently my Mage makes the clear casting sound and gesture but no clear casting icon appears on screen. Mana seems to be consumed during the subsequent cast, but, if I've observed correctly, not at the same rate as it would be in normal casting.

Is there any other situation that evokes this exact combination of gesture and sound? If there is, what is it?
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1. I do not regularly get clear casting by leading with frost bolt followed by fireball.

2. The clear casting icon seems to disappear when a spell's casting completes--at the end of a fireball or at the beginnning of AM. Could this phenomena somehow account for your observations?

[Brista]

Some testing on the resists issue:

Level 26 Troll Mage, Fire specialist

Just using Fireball (except for Frost Nova on the level 29s, but even there it was only not resisted once)

This is how many Fireballs mobs take to kill for this character

Level 21
3, 3, 3, 3, 4 (one resisted)

Level 22
4,4,3,4,4

Level 23
5 (one resisted), 3, 4, 4, 4

Level 24
4, 4, 4, 3, 4

Level 25
4, 4, 4, 4, 5

Level 26
4, 5, 5, 5, 6 (one resisted)

Level 27
4, 5, 5, 5, 6

Level 28
5, 6 (one resisted), 6 (one resisted), 6 (one resisted), 5

Level 29
7 (2 resisted), 8 (2 resisted), 8 (one resisted), 8 (one resisted), 10 (one resisted)

In addition to the obvious resists there seem to be partial resists. My spell does 142 to 191 yet sometimes against the higher level mobs (most noticeably against the +3) it would do much lower - lowest was 51

As a point of reference the exp awards without rest would be:
Level 21: 95 exp
Level 22: 111 exp
Level 23: 127 exp
Level 24: 143 exp
Level 25: 159 exp
Level 26: 175 exp
Level 27: 184 exp
Level 28: 192 exp
Level 29: 201 exp

I died once compiling this to an add (while fighting a level 26 mob). I didn't die at all in one on ones but some of the +3 fights were uncomfortably close and of the 4 frost novas I used 3 were resisted

My conclusion based on this rather limited sample is that the "grind on greens" advice is not good advice for this set up at this level. Grind on yellows seems better advice. I could kill the level 28s very comfortably and looking for the next mob was a less notable factor

I would say that if there's some particular reason you want to kill +3s (eg they drop silk or some other desireable loot) then it's certainly viable to do so

My build is optimised towards killing a single target, if you're optimised towards killing multiples then greens might be better. My normal soloing would be a little more effective than what's listed here because I didn't use Pyroblast which is normally my opener of choice and is available once every 2-3 fights when I'm grinding

There is no tactical sophistication to playing with this build. You just start 41 yards away and cast Fireballs until they're dead or you're dead. If you get an add just run or sheep it then run. Running (with a Blink after they get a chill from your Ice Armour) seems better than sheeping or Frost Nova. Cone of Cold is worth casting. Fireblast is barely worth casting - it's a third the damage of fireball and a third the casting downtime, although sometimes it's cheaper and quicker to finish off an almost dead mob with Fireblast than with Fireball and it's not subject to interruption. (Fireball in this build is 65% uninterruptible)

Build is
Improved Fireball 5
Impact 5
Flame throwing 2
Ignite 1
Burning soul 3
Pyroblast 1

[Skandranon]

2. The  clear casting icon seems to disappear when a spell's casting completes--at the end of a fireball or at the beginnning of AM. Could this phenomena somehow account for your observations?
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I think Alram has the right idea here. Keep in mind when the clearcasting is "used up" - the *next* time mana would be consumed (for a damage spell). That's at the beginning of Missiles and Blizzard, but at the end of Fireball, Frostbolt, Scorch and the like. So if you're following a Frostbolt with a Fireball and casting close together, you're likely to start the Fireball cast before the Frostbolt hits. If the frostbolt hits and procs Clearcast, the Fireball cast will be free when it finishes.

[Malakar]

Fireblast is barely worth casting - it's a third the damage of fireball and a third the casting downtime...

Sounds like you need to upgrade fireblast, or you forgot to put the next rank on your hotkey. It's typically around 70% of the damage of fireball.

[Skandranon]

Build is
Improved Fireball 5
Impact 5
Flame throwing 2
Ignite 1
Burning soul 3
Pyroblast 1
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This build is contributing significantly to your results. This isn't just a Fire specialist build, it's a Fireball specialist build, which is one of the best for early grinding and which decays rapidly in usefulness towards the end game.

Just as one example, from what your listed damage is, you appear to be running a rank 5 fireball, which is 2.5 seconds with your talents. That means you should be getting off three fireballs before they reach you. Rank 6 will raise the casting time to 3.0 seconds, which is going to be only time for two before you start getting stuttered. Even with Burning Soul, you'll probably get interrupted at least twice a fight, which cuts down on your efficiency.

Lengthening casting time harms a fireball-only build in two ways: firstly, you get less fireballs as they come in, and secondly, the creatures have a bigger window of opportunity to whack you once they're close. Fireballing all the way against +2s at 40+ will mean at least four fireballs at melee range, during which you can expect to be hit at least five times. Even with Burning Soul, that's two interruptions. And we're not even getting into the magnification of downtime in later levels.

In summary: yes, a Fireball only build won't be too bad of a grinder on yellows in the early game. I didn't consider it, since it's not an overly popular build, but they are out there. Orange mobs will still be difficult and a significant risk, as I have always said, but play whatever way you like.

[Skandranon]

Now - Re: Treesh and all she's said. Please remember that she and I play together a lot and she knows my frustrations and my comfort zones. Her input is important to me from a personal play sytle level and I will always welcome it.

Thank you so much.
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I welcome it as well, as I welcome the input of everyone who posts on these forums. My issue was that she doesn't appear to welcome my input, which is all very well, I suppose. But that's my last word on this issue.

[Sabra]

Thanks, Alrin and Skan. I'll keep a tighter eye on this, but I think, based on observation that the icon never hits the screen - just the gesture and sound.

<must set up test ...>

[Raelynn]

Before the patch, Pepperi was consistently winning against +3 and +4 critters in Duskwood without a lot of extra downtime.&nbsp; After the patch, I have troubles with +2.&nbsp; So no, we didn't always have to stick more closely to killing green things than other classes.&nbsp; Maybe higher up, but pre-20, go ahead and fight oranges that aren't elite.&nbsp; Always fighting greens is boring as hell.&nbsp; Edit:&nbsp; And anyway, that suggestion was for powerleveling, not just regular play.

But it does look like you guys are right about missiles only checking on the first volley rather than all the way through.&nbsp; That's why I wasn't definite about my suggestion. ;)
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On the topic of resists, I think something was changed involving resists but without Blizzard realizing it.

The patch notes mention that shadow resistance was changed to allow better mitigation of damage from Unholy Aura. After the patch, Warlocks went crazy about a supposed change in Enslave Demon. They said that it was dropping unusually fast and was being resisted many many times. In addition, their curses were being resisted just as much. I theorized that the change to shadow resistance accidently triggered a global change to resists, resulting in mobs having an unusually high resist to shadow based spells. While the post was visible, I had two shadow-specced priests say that they too had an increase in resists.

The problem was that it seemed a little off balance in the claims. It was about half and half for who had problems. My warlock hasn't had a significant increase in resists, but I also haven't been fighting many mobs with high resistance. I tend to believe something changed when a person who claims they regularly held an Infernal for 45 minutes now has trouble holding it for 8.

Anyways, concerning your post, there may have been a more global change than I had realized if what you had said is true. They might have changed resistance in general, which now would be affecting everyone. The change would be most noticed in the cases where resists would start happening more frequently. Even more so, the partial resists which just lowered the damage make me think that the change was made global so that the mob's resistance was mitigating damage much like how players are supposed to mitigate the damage of the Unholy Aura.

I don't have significant data to back this up, but a lot of people have said that something's changed, and seeing that mages are now seeing something different only further's my belief that Blizzard unknowingly changed a major mechanic of the game.

[Brista]

I don't have significant data to back this up, but a lot of people have said[right][snapback]72867[/snapback][/right]

Took me a bit over two hours to provide the data I posted above

If you want "significant data to back this up" why not do a bit of testing?

[Treesh]

Anyways, concerning your post, there may have been a more global change than I had realized if what you had said is true.&nbsp;
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It was actually just extremely bad luck that Pepperi had the next couple of days after the patch. She's back to taking on the higher mobs just like before. I don't think there has been a sweeping change. Or if there was, it's been changed back. At least from Pep's perspective. ;)

[Raelynn]

It was actually just extremely bad luck that Pepperi had the next couple of days after the patch.&nbsp; She's back to taking on the higher mobs just like before.&nbsp; I don't think there has been a sweeping change.&nbsp; Or if there was, it's been changed back.&nbsp; At least from Pep's perspective. ;)
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Good to hear at least. I've noticed less of the warlock posts on the WoW forums, but that doesn't mean it magically went away. It might just mean that I'm missing them, or the warlocks got sick of posting without receiving a response.

[Tharn]

In addition to the obvious resists there seem to be partial resists. My spell does 142 to 191 yet sometimes against the higher level mobs (most noticeably against the +3) it would do much lower - lowest was 51
...
Fireblast is barely worth casting - it's a third the damage of fireball

Hi Brista,

FYI at lvl 26 Fireblast is 103-127 damage. That's about at 70% of fireball (not counting DoT, but you won't use it up in at least 3-4 fireballs anyway).

[Brista]

Hi Brista,

FYI at lvl 26 Fireblast is 103-127 damage. That's about at 70% of fireball (not counting DoT, but you won't use it up in at least 3-4 fireballs anyway).
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Thanks guys, I forgot to upgrade it :blush:

[Alram]

On the topic of clearcasting, I find the best spell for procing it is scorch. I got the idea off someone in these forums (I forget who, sorry). It's great because not only does it have a very small cast time, it's inherently a very mana efficient spell. Typically in normal instances, all I cast on the normal guys is scorch, and AM when clearcast procs. It reduces downtime greatly.
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I tried your suggestion in the last instance I did, casting only scorch on the normal guys. It worked really well in terms of mana conservation. Nobody in my party complained. If anything they were probably happy because they were going at a fast pace which didn't allow much time to drink.

The best spell in my experience (level 36 mage) to process clearcasting is AE.