04-11-2009, 07:28 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-11-2009, 07:37 PM by Swiss Mercenary.)
I don't know about how the situation looks at your gear level, but my understanding is that Fireball > FFB, if you're raiding, especially when taking into account the Focus Magic crit buff that you provide to the raid.
The playstyle of the spec is exactly the same as FFB.
Arcane, in my experience, is roughly equivalent long-term DPS to FFB, but when used well, wins out because you can pop your cooldowns during a burn phase/heroism. You do lose out on the 10% raid-wide crit buff if you spec it... Unless you spec Arcane/Scorch, which loses quite a bit of DPS compared to Arcane/Icy Veins.
Personally, I play Arcane because I hate the feel of running the FFB rotation, and we always have a fire mage on hand to provide the scorch debuff.
As for mana concerns, there are none with Arcane. With the 2-minute evocate, and if you use mage armor, mana for Arcane is not an issue. 2-pc Tier 7, if you have access to it, makes mana gems absolutely amazing.
I'm speaking completely about raids, here. In 5-mans, I'd imagine frost-specced Blizzard spam would be the best way to go... But I did notice Arcane to be better the Fireball, due to the reduced need to drink.
As for Arcane specs, this is the spec I raid with.
I find +6 yards on all my spells from Magic Attunement to be absolutely critical... As well as the 60% pushback protection, which gives me 100% protection when combined with Improved Concentration aura. If you don't raid with a paladin, I'd suggest 5/5 into that talent - nothing will gimp your DPS more then pushback on your Arcane Missles. Student of the Mind is not the best talent talent, if I need 3/3 Arcane Focus, due to lack of Hit on my gear, I drop a point from Arcane Mind.
Since I currently have an overabundance of hit gear, I'm thinking of moving the other 2 points from Arcane Focus into Magic Absorbtion or Incanter's Absorbtion (For laughs on Sapphiron/KT).
The playstyle of the spec is exactly the same as FFB.
Arcane, in my experience, is roughly equivalent long-term DPS to FFB, but when used well, wins out because you can pop your cooldowns during a burn phase/heroism. You do lose out on the 10% raid-wide crit buff if you spec it... Unless you spec Arcane/Scorch, which loses quite a bit of DPS compared to Arcane/Icy Veins.
Personally, I play Arcane because I hate the feel of running the FFB rotation, and we always have a fire mage on hand to provide the scorch debuff.
As for mana concerns, there are none with Arcane. With the 2-minute evocate, and if you use mage armor, mana for Arcane is not an issue. 2-pc Tier 7, if you have access to it, makes mana gems absolutely amazing.
I'm speaking completely about raids, here. In 5-mans, I'd imagine frost-specced Blizzard spam would be the best way to go... But I did notice Arcane to be better the Fireball, due to the reduced need to drink.
As for Arcane specs, this is the spec I raid with.
I find +6 yards on all my spells from Magic Attunement to be absolutely critical... As well as the 60% pushback protection, which gives me 100% protection when combined with Improved Concentration aura. If you don't raid with a paladin, I'd suggest 5/5 into that talent - nothing will gimp your DPS more then pushback on your Arcane Missles. Student of the Mind is not the best talent talent, if I need 3/3 Arcane Focus, due to lack of Hit on my gear, I drop a point from Arcane Mind.
Since I currently have an overabundance of hit gear, I'm thinking of moving the other 2 points from Arcane Focus into Magic Absorbtion or Incanter's Absorbtion (For laughs on Sapphiron/KT).