Why Spell DMG?Follow

So I hit 70 a little while ago and am currently getting geared for some raiding. I have been to Kara once and done all of the heroics.

Well what I don't understand is everytime I am in the LFG for a heroic I get a pst: "spell dmg?" which I reply "720" and 1/2 the time will not get a replay after that. I know 720 is not great, but why is everyone messuring me by spell damage? I thought the stat to go for was spell hit not spell damage? Am I wrong?

To expand on above poster, raid bosses (??) rate as level 73 which takes 16 percent to hit max cap you can get(1%miss). Instance and heroic bosses will be i think 70-72 which does not take near as much hit to max out. But i feel you when i first hit 70 i was turned down for some heroics because of lower spell damage and gear. Not sure of your spec or gear but if you are fire at 720 spell damage it may be worthwhile
to spec arcane fire for the dmg bonus from int. It will usually outdps fire til at least 800-900 base damage.

Your hit cap on level 73 bosses with 3/3 in elemental percision is 160. A deep arcane mage drops his hit cap to 90.

Why then doesn't everyone go arcane? Since by numbers you have more room to gem or gear for damage and crit? Mana. In long encounters you'll find as a arcane mage raiding becomes expensive and you have to micro manage your mana.

If your hit as fire or frost with 3/3 elemental percision is 140 or above, and your spell damage is over 700 and your crit for your chosen school is 20% or higher, you can and will do just fine in heroics. People are ignorant about what a mage should or shouldn't have.

Fire talents and frost talents are not calculated into your base dmg you get to see on your character sheet in game.

For a mage just recently hitting 70, I would suggest a 2/48/11 build.

2/2 in arcane subtlety. As some spell penetration is wanted and this covers all you'll ever need.
11 points in frost to icey veins.
48 fire points to play with, skipping things like Improved fireblast, blazing speed and molten shields should set you up for a good build.

If you find yourself with mana issues, 10/48/3 is the way to counter this. You lose icey veins but you gain Arcane concentration for mana effeciancy.

Arcane only becomes vialbe for raiding when you've got 2 peice set bonus of tier 5 and then it's even more a mana struggle and you really need a sp to be effeciant.

Actually, that's the case even while you're raiding. It just depends on the damage.




There are two places where I think I'd really miss Dragon's Breath. The first is in ZA. The second is in Mount Hyjal. The only reason I'd miss it is because I find it to be much more mana efficient. Well, that and the disorient effect means that our paladin tank takes one less hit from the mobs saving his healers a wee bit of mana.


Oh, and for some fun, go to Dr Boom and do a DPS test of you with AP and a trinket spamming Arcane Blast. Only run the meter for that 15-20 seconds(depending on trinket).

I would highly highly recommend NOT going 2/48/11 (or variations) right when you hit 70. If you want fire, go 40/21/0 (or variation) You simply wont have the spell dmg to do much with the deep fire build, stay 40/21/0 until you have at least 800-900 +dmg imo. Because when you reach that point and respec into 2/48/11 your going to loose all your deep arc talents that give you +dmg and mana/ mana regen. So you you're probably looking at loosing about 150 dmg just from the respec. Also right at 70 you won't have the mana pool or regen to sustain yourself in a raid fight specced 2/48/11.

Sheep and water.

I was turned down for a pug heroic once because I was at a little under 800 spell damage. I pretty much laid into the guy and said that for a heroic, my damage was fine and that I had run it many times on my hunter without problems. Later one, I had plenty of stats in that any heroic was easy, when that guy asked me later, I told him no every time.

This reminds me of a time I was turned down for Heroic Ramparts by a group that was on the LFG channel asking for DPS. I wasn't turned down for either my +hit or +spell damage, as they did not even ask for these stats. Do you want to know why I was turned down? I was turned down because I was wearing cloth armor. Boy am I glad I did not run with that group.

I am asked about 60% of the time what my spell dmg is before an invite to a PUG. About 90% of the time if it is for heroic MgT. It may be because I am on a crowded server but that is just the way it is. I actually feel reassured with the group if they ask, it shows that they are intent on having an atleast decent or pro group. I did laugh when I was asked my spell damage for a h-SP though (that made me nervous in their gear level).

To the OP if you are 720 with the Arcane talents, that is a bit low for the heroic SH(especially if it is timed), h-slab, h-seth hall, and h-MgT. Can your group manage? Of course, but it is slower. But mainly, PUGs for heroics are generally there to get badges and move on. If you were creating a group, would you rather spend 15 min asking all the mages their spell damage to take the highest one or spend an extra hour+ in an instance that you only want the badges from?

As a side note, after I was once asked my spell damage the guy asked:
"How's your sheeps?"

What can you reply to that? All I said was:
"They go Baa"

It got me in the group..