Further 1.10 Changes

[MongoJerry]

Of course, this is taking only the most geared mages into account.  But is this fix really better for relatively poorly geared mages?  Saying that only 0.01% of level 60 mages have both trinkets is an exaggeration (the percentage on Stormrage is well in excess of that, if that's really the case on Tich).  To get TOEP you just need to be able to kill Magmadar - hardly a difficult task.  To get ZHC you need to be able to kill Hakkar - more challenging, given the 1.9 changes, but again hardly absurd.  To get +700 spell damage, you have to be able to clear Blackwing Lair on a regular basis, up to and including Nefarian to obtain both his staff and the cloak he drops. 

I suspect that mages on Tich are more geared than those on most servers, since Tich has so many active raiding guilds on both sides. However, I have to recognize the "silent majority" of players who aren't involved in major raiding guilds. We see and notice the major raiding guild mages, but we don't notice the struggling player in blues and greens who play only a few hours a week. Even still, the TOEP doesn't drop every week. In fact, our guild has had very few of them drop even though we've been raiding MC for more than a year, so not even all raiding guild mages necessarily have access to dual trinkets.

This doesn't negate your arguments in any way, and I get your points. One of my guild's mages even created a Remove Arcane Power thread on the Blizzard forums that started a major uproar. I think it's good that mages will be getting the next talent overhaul, since it seems like mages have only a limited number of choices for talent builds and could definitely use some review. Maybe that review will alleiviate some of your concerns. However, in the meantime, I'm happy about the breakup of the dual trinkets. I don't like so much burst damage being available, and if this change nerfs it a little bit and makes trinkets that give sustained damage more desireable, I think that's a good thing.

By the way the TOEP still isn't garbage. Even without Arcane Power, it adds a healthy dose of damage. Maybe mages might realize that they can do damage more than once every three minutes.