Coming Soon: Changes for mages

[Concillian]

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...968115908&sid=1

There are a few nice improvements we're making to the mage class in patch 2.3.2 (a small patch that will be on the public test realms soon) and we wanted to share them with you. First, we'll start out with two changes affecting all mages. Ice block will become a core ability, trainable by all mages at level 30. Additionally, conjure mana (rank 6) will restore 1800-3000 mana and will now have three charges, meaning you can use it three times before having to create a new one.

To be sure we're clear here, yes, the same cooldown will still apply between usages.:P

Cold snap will be moved to Ice block's position in the talent tree and its cooldown will be reduced. As a side note, it will no longer reset the cooldown on fire ward. Moving in to Cold snap's spot will be a brand new ability called Icy Veins. This new ability will decrease casting time for all spells by 20% and increases the chance that chilling effects freeze the target by 25%. It's an active ability, lasting 20 seconds and has a 3 minute cooldown.

I'm not too up on mage mechanics, but is the gem change enough to make mages less dependent on shadow priests? Combined with what looks like Frost raid viability I think it's possible that this is enough.

Does this drive the nail that the Mystical Skyfire Diamond cooldown put into the raiding arcane build's coffin even deeper?