blizzard grindingFollow

how do you guys keep channeling blizzard when all the stuff hits you? even with froze nova mana shield and ice barrier they still cancel it out?

Unless something has changed with aoe grinding you should be getting hit very much at all. Points in Imp Blizzard and that other slowing one (which I can't remember the name of), plus increasing the range of blizzard should mean you can get two casts off without the mobs coming into melee range of you.

You should blink/strafe away after a frost nova so that they are out of range to hit you (the glyph of frost nova is probably a good idea to get too, so that it won't break too early).

Mana shield/ice barrier should stop push-back being an issue so could it be that a) they are burning through the shield too fast or b) they have a proper interupt ability?

Basic aoe rotation should be:
1. Gather mobs
2. Frost Nova + Blink away
3. Cast blizzard with the back of the circle hitting the furthest away mob
4. Get ready with next blizzard at the closest point to you of the first blizzard (sorry if that makes no sense, but imagine an 8, top o is the first blizzard, bottom o is where you want to start casting the second blizzard when the first ends).
5. When mobs get close enough use cone of cold
6. Frost nova and strafe away
7. Blizzard, mobs should be dead by now, but if not a coc or arcane explosion should finish them off.

If you're having the problem where mobs are not dying with 7 then you probably want to get for lower level mobs (so they have less hp/less chance to resist your spells) or get more spell damage gear (assuming you don't reduce your stam/int too much by doing so) so that you'll do more damage with the same number of casts.

If you're soloing lower level instances then I'm not sure what to suggest as I tend not to do that with my mage (or at least not past the point where arcane explosion is enough to kill them all).

I tried some AoE with Frostbite and Shatter - it was....AMAZING. Mobs died wayyyy too fast. Yeah, they split up a bit, but only one or two made it to me. By the time they reached me, all the others were dead. Then, they were easily dealt with becuase they had such little health left.

It's not quite as pretty as the "old school" AoE (where all the mobs die together in one nice, tightly packed pile), but it is just as effective. I would actually say it is better since I use less Blizzards, so I have more mana in the end.