DPS problems and frustrationsFollow

FFb applies a snare, but I do not believe the snare counts/applies on bosses. only Slow works (and maybe a DK spell, not positive).

I am deeply disturbed when you wrote:



Are you trying to imply something that you mages do with your sheep also happened with shamans and their frogs?

This seems to be a tough time for Mages. Maybe it's that things are still getting sorted out since the expansion, and a new patch down the road will even things out a bit. I don't mind being equal to all other DPS classes, I just hate being let in the dust. I ran Ahn"kahet last night on heroic as arcane (most annoying bosses ever-Loken was easier) and I got 3rd on overall damage behind a DK and Warlock, but my DPS was 1st, if only just. Got around 1400dps, which, while nice, is nowhere near what a hunter would be, and the DK wasn't super well geared. Not sure about the Warlock, but from what I've seen of them lately they aren't doing much damage-wise. Did they just stop trying?

I noticed that at least half the bosses in Ahn"kahet were immune to slow. It sucks seeing that dirty word pop up. I'm still not convinced that slow and the Torment the Weak effect is really worth it. As a previous poster pointed out, the gcd takes some casting time away, forcing us to make up that lost damage over time. I can't quite tell. I know the math works, but the reality may be something different when you factor in changing situations and skill.

I just got hit capped and want to see how much of a difference that makes. I somehow managed to do it with a ton of quest items and random drops, with only one gem, although to get it, other stats have suffered. Had to give up some +dam, crit, int, and a ton of spirit. I was really enjoying the high mana regen. Just have to drink more now, and manage things better.

We haven't been tops on DPS overall in quite a while, but we were damn close before the expansion, and sheep is such a powerful spell, it made up for any DPS shortcomings. Now, we are even further behind. It seems to me in attempting to make the DPS classes more even, Blizzard let some classes actually slip. Many more classes can do so much damage so much faster, it stands to reason that Mages, with our long cast times, would fall behind.

So, what is the solution? We can see how much difference gear makes. But as we get tougher with the better gear, everyone else will too. Shorter cast times would make a big difference. Imagine a 1.5 second fireball, or no cooldown on Arcane Barrage. Mana, of course, would simply disappear, so, a mana adjustment is necessary to make that viable. Increased survivability would be nice too. Right now we are a lower end DPS class that dies quick. Kind of a glass elephant gun rather than cannon. Our damage potential is there, but something is missing. Things just don't feel right. On the upside, though, I am thinking about every fight much more carefully, and choosing spells and rotations based on what is happening rather than blasting away with a single nuke all the time.

I'm at the point where the frustration has turned to resignation. I go into an instance not expecting much, and if I do well DPS or damage wise, it's a pleasant surprise. My only goals damage wise are to keep ahead of the tank. Pally tanks seem to do a lot of damage, making that goal a little harder. Maybe I should stop running with good hunters, and avoid pally tanks.


On a side note, what we do with the sheep is our business. Get your own animal to abuse.

I understand that gear and skill are extremely important, and I have never based anything off a non-heroic 5-man. I believe the one I referenced in my last post specifically mentioned Heroic Ahn'Kahet. I do run non-heroics, but don't expect to base anything off of them damage wise. In my opinion there is something wrong with the current DPS situation. Rogues are feeling it too. I simply want to be in line with the other classes, not necessarily the top of the pack all the time. As it stands, Mages are not in line with some of the other classes.

My gear isn't bad. I can run heroics without trouble. I'm a pretty good mage, certainly not the best, but I understand how to play the class. I've tried several specs and approaches, and after several instance runs(heroic), my DPS and damage are not as competitive as they once were.

When I get to Naxx 10 and 25, I'll see how it goes. But the majority of my runs will always be 5 man heroics, and I think that is the case with many players. To have a DPS class that only shines in 10 or 25 man raids is simply wrong.

I would like to see shorter cast times, but doubt I ever will. 1.5 second fireball would be interesting. As for Arcane Barrage, PvP players complain all the time about other classes being OP. Cloth wearers will never be overpowered in PvP.

I may sound fatalist, but I do have hope that things will work themselves out. Like I said before, my skill is improving because I have to work harder to keep up, which is a good thing. Not caring as much about who tops the DPS board is a good thing too. Third in a 5 man is fine, as long as it isn't a distant third. But I don't like feeling resigned to the bottom no matter what. Damage is what we do, and we should do it well, and do it big.

Hunters, I notice, are getting nerfed. I'm curious to see how this affects the DPS world. I'm actually sad in a way, because I'd rather see other classes get buffed, but the reasoning behind the nerf is sound. My usual group has two hunters, so I have gotten to see their big DPS a lot.

Frostfire snaring effect might not snare the boss, but it is considered a snaring effect thus it counts for torment of the weak or atleast I believe it does. My damage seems to be higher and I have used it on raid mobs. I have seen bosses that are immune to slow. IE I cast slow and it says Immune. the Slow icon does appear on most mobs but not those that are immune, the drip and snare from frostfire appears on all mobs. I could be wrong about frostfire, but currently it seems to be working and counting as a snare effect and the nice thing is frostfire is one of the spells that works with Torent of the weak

I did notice the slow debuff go up even though it said "immune". Kind of surprised to see it, but it was there.

For a bit of insight into 25man Naxx:

http://wowwebstats.com/xgphkc6xeuvyi

I had pretty bad RNG on some of the fights (that and the other mage had Focus magic almost the entire time from Dnev, so that helped as well, plus his 175 extra crit rating :-()

Consistently in the top 5 as frostfire.

I can't really argue that much about sheep now... I haven't used it yet in an instance (and obviously not a raid as everything is either dragonkin, a boss, or undead/non-specified).

MI is good for 2 things:

I pop it right at the beginning of a fight with my cooldowns, it allows me to go all out because I have no aggro table effectively and it gives tanks plenty of time to get an aggro lead. I also pop it when/if I happen to pull aggro from trash or things like that (like the Gothik fight) and for a tiny bit of dps increase on other fights (as long as there isn't a significant aoe damage).

Finally got into Naxx last night, and we worked on Anub'rekhan and Patchwerk.

My DPS on Patchwerk fights was hanging around 2400 over 3-4 minute attempts, right on par with the DK in our group. I had just respecced to a staple FFB spec and buffed up was around 1500 spellpower, hit capped (FFB buf and a moonie) and had 550 blended rating of crit and haste. And I'm still not close to where I need to be for him. That guy is a serious gear check, and I failed.

Anub'rekhan was an entirely different matter. Hung around 1600 DPS for the fight due to target switching, some light AOE and just having to move a lot. And still I was on par with the others in the raid. Picked up Gloves of Dark Gestures and threw a +16 gem in it. Fun fight.

Trash was, well, trash, and I don't care about my DPS on that, as long as they die.

I think that some people may get the sense that Naxx is EZMODE and try to get in there undergeared. It's really, really not. You have to spend some time doing heroics and getting your rep up to be viable in there.

Well, the strat that we used pulled Anub all the way to the entrance, then we would kite him and the crypt lord clockwise around the room while insect swarm was up. Which meant that I had to be standing on the right side of the room and loiter around the corpse until the scarabs popped. Since I was the only mage and really the only AOE in the group, I had to move a bit to get situated when the crypt lords popped as well, since they were appearing at the opposite end of the room. And with the room being a bit bigger than 80 yards in diameter, you can't totally stand still in the center of the room all the time. Living Bomb and Scorch won't let you do that.

You do what you have to to win, I guess. Our raid comp wasn't exactly ideal (warrior/bear, 2x trees, boom/mage/2x rogue/DK/SVtard) so you make do. It was a good win and a guild first, so I'm happy with it.

I vaguely remember reading a strat that called for doing that.

That's pretty much how we do it too. Just saying I vaguely remember a strat that involved kiting.