Since there aren't any posted recommended builds...Follow

My mage is level 61, and I'm not really sure where to go with arcane just yet. I've got the full 50 points into Frost and I've put 1 point into Arcane Focus. What do the 70's recommend? :-)

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=ocxcf0RIz0GuGzed

This is what my mages arcane build looks like at 61.

well this is a 0/0/61 build, although as we mentioned in a thread on this page right now if you are frost it is worth putting pretty much every last point into it. You are missing out on permafrost (amazing for soloing), elemental precision (great against those mobs your level or higher since you will have little spellhit), brain freeze 1/3, I would think of making it 3/3. A free and instant fireball 15% chance? Can't complain much there. and finally, max out imp frostbolt, no reason for 4/5. I saw you took frostwarding -- useless talent.

Edited, Nov 4th 2008 7:59pm by Anobix

Well, the Brain Freeze procs quite a bit even at 1/3 so I figured that would be fine. The reason I took Frost Warding was for the extra armor. I figured extra armor would always be good. Also, I am curious why there aren't any points in Improved Cone of Cold? I use cone of cold pretty much any time it's up and I'm within range to use it, so that talent is very useful to me.

I'm definitely not opposed to the idea of going full frost, it just seemed like a lot of people were going into fire or arcane after they filled out frost. Clearly I need to respec, but I would like to keep Improved Cone of Cold at the least. Are there any talents that you think I could sub it for?

I usually frost bolt until the mob gets to me, then I hit it with CoC and then frost nova and stride away and then frost bolt until it's dead unless it has just a little bit of HP left, then I usually fireblast or do CoC/the arcane instant cast if it's on me.

CoC I use on both one mob or multiple. So you need to use fireblast while a mob is frozen to get the shatter combo? I didn't know that... That's good to know, I'll try your method from now on.

I’ve been reading these forums for almost a year now. I haven’t posted much because Anobix, Poldaran and some of the others (too many to list) usually respond to people's questions pretty quick and with good answers so why waste space to say the same thing. But I did want to add in my 2 cents on this topic.
I’m a 0/0/61 Frost Mage and I would have to agree that deep frost is a build that you commit to completely or not at all. Otherwise you’re dps will be greatly reduced. Start with a cookie cutter version of the build of the spec you would like to try. These builds are posted all over the forums for a reason. They are good, solid, tested builds. Try it for at least a week to get use to the build and to get a good reference point to base any changes to your build you may make later.
Now I should mention that I play on a PVP server so this influences my opinion on adding points to Frost Warding and CoC. I tried the build without them and found that I was having trouble in PVP. I respec and added 2 points into FW and 1 point into CoC. Tried it for a couple of weeks and found it improved my PVP but I should also mention that it did nothing noticeable to my PVE. In my opinion it was a positive change since I am on a PVP server. I consider any positive change to not be wasted points. I can get into the details of the improvement if you wish but again, don’t want to waste space if there is no need. So do not let other people stop you from experimenting with different versions of a build to find out what works best for you. However, most defiantly start with a cookie cutter version of the build. Otherwise you have no reference point to compare any changes you may make and your dps may suffer. Just my 2 cents.

Anobix, I bow to you. With your method of casting, I can now last two to three times longer without having to rest. You rock. :-)

Yeah, I use Ice Armor when leveling and Mage Armor when I'm in dungeons because I don't have to deal with the full brunt of hate. I just got Molten Armor, so I hadn't quite figured out what to do with it yet. I didn't even think of using mage armor while leveling just because of survivability. I'll try using Mage Armor and Molten Armor and see what that does.

I have noticed that I don't die very often, most of my deaths result from accidentally getting way too many mobs on me (which happens rarely) or being ganked since I'm on a pvp server. I just assumed that the reason for this was because I was doing things right lol. I did try using Molten Armor last night and I noticed a huge increase in the amount of crits I did. It seemed like most of my spells critted, which was really awesome. I also rarely ran out of mana too.

That's the same reason i'm on a PVP server. My friend talked me into tring WoW out and I signed onto the same server as her which happen to be a PVP server. That was back when I didn't even know the difference between PVP and PVE. A year later and I have learned alot especialy from this forum.
Rogues are a problem on this server. They seem to go looking for squishies to get their honor kills. I do a lot of soloing sence i'm the guilds herb / alchy. I keep ice armor and ice barrier up all the time. It seems to give me a fighting chance against rogues when they pop out of nowhere. I can't tell you if it's the extra armor or just the thought of extra armor or a combinatin of both but I seem to stay calm and react to the situation and not the panic like i did when I first started. I'm very good about managing my mana and rarely ever go oom and only have to use a mana pot during long boss fights. I've tried different builds, mage armor, molten armor, etc. and this seem to be what works for me best on this server. Who knows, I may just have a wierd playstyle but it works.

Hey Anobix, I am thinking about switching to arcane for a quick za or kara run just to try it out and I was just wondering what your cast sequence is? Thanks for the help.

Anobix, is slow now working on bosses? I thought it wasn't.

Correct.