Coming Soon: Changes for mages

[Taelas]

Didn't they change Arcane Explosion from talented instant to instant for all? There are others that are tickling the back of my memory but having not played my mage for quite some time its not something I've tracked.

Ah, you're right. I forgot about that one. Mea culpa.

Ok, name one class, besides shaman and paladin, that has had *one* talent fully turned into a class skill? You can't cause Blizzard hasn't done so, yet there are a number of talents through out the various classes that are almost must have or should be class skills.

Let's see here. What talents have, more or less, been turned into class skills?

Mages - Evocation and Improved Arcane Explosion.
Paladins - Consecration and Improved Seal of the Crusader.
Shamans - 2-hand weapons.
Warriors - 2/5ths of Tactical Mastery.
Priests - Holy Fire.
Druids - Innervate.
Rogues - Shadowstep.

Numerous players of various classes have pointed out why certain talents should be changed to class skills, but the Mages on the WoW forums say that they need X talent turned into a class skill or Y cooldown decreased and Blizzard jumps and gives it to them while Blizzard generall ignores everyone else even though a lot of people have made very good thought out arguements why certain talents should become class skills and Blizzard does nothing about it. To me I'm getting sick of watching Blizzard coddle certain classes while never taking in any of the other construtive thoughts presented by players to make certain aspects of other classes play better.

And as Tal mentions, changing untalented Arcane Explosion from being a 1.5 s cast to instant (another change from talent to full class skill). There's more than just Evocation that the Mages have gotten for free.

Yes, I forgot that one. I'll add a note in my defense that Improved Arcane Missiles wasn't a spell, though.

While I agree that there are several talents that could easily be turned into class skills instead, Blizzard most likely has a good reason to avoid doing it.

And quite frankly, Blizzard does not "coddle" ANY class. All classes have seen buffs and nerfs. Blizzard has one of the best balanced MMOs on the market.

The point is, it's a frivalous change to give Ice Block to all mages. You yourself said it, it doesn't help mages in any serious way. As such, it should be left alone, it doesn't fill an adequate change. I won't argue the issue involving the mana gems because I can see the issue, but I will say that Mages get their way far more often than any other class in WoW. IMO, frivalous changes like Ice Block should not be made and it seems that the whining and crying that non-frost mages made on the WoW forums is where you should really direct your whining charge.

They've stated that the change is so they can balance PvE encounters around mages having Ice Block. Quite understandable.
(EDIT: Source.)

And Klaus, Mages are among that list of powerful classes, yet Blizzard continues to cater to them while doing nothing for those other powerful classes. And if you look at the DPS charts, you'll see that Mages are right up there at the top on DPS. If they were not doing so well, I could see boosts being handed out, but in the case of Ice Block, you have a talent that is being given as a class skill frivalously.

Seriously, cut it out. Blizzard has nerfed mages in the past. Counterspell on the GCD was a hefty nerf, as was the coefficiency tax. They were reversed because they were way too much.

I'll also add that mages are currently not among the top damage dealing classes. Rogues and warlocks beat them out of the water with relative ease.