A Long Fight With FireFollow

I've tried my very hardest and best to stay frost. From the time I started reading about raiding, I thought for sure that I'd have to spec fire and I didn't wanna do it...

Nerfs happened and I didn't have to switch from frost. But it wasn't just the nerfs, I was determined to hang on to frost.

Then the fire mage in my guild more than doubled my dps and I was like, "yeah, time to respec for real." so I did.

And then I ******* for 2 days straight. Feel naked w/o ice barrier, feel more vulnerable w/o coldsnap, etc. But I fought that and kept trying to learn about ffb/fire. I have more down time, solo-wise, especially while farming meat. Anyway, I was grumpy about it. Why couldn't Blizz make frost viable in raids? and on and on.


So I got used to it, a little bit, and did a H VH, and, sure, this is FUN! Then later, I got to go up against several raid bosses (and several of them several times lol)

At KT, though, something really cool happened. I felt like I was doing my very best dps, and was really attuned to what was going on. (wtb meter that works?) and then it just became automatic, almost, like playing the drums, or any other percussion situation. Not automatic like, boring, repetitive percussion, but something with a base (yes, base, not bass) rhythm.

And, at that moment, when the fire was flowing like lava, I lost the fight. Fire is addictive. I'm hooked. Let's just hope I don't wet my bed. :)



Anyone else have convert stories? lol.

I actually had the opposite experience, I did 1 to about 76 as fire including some BC raids and never questioned it.

Then at about the middle of 76 I started running into problems I just couldn't deal with as a fire mage and decided I'd bite the bullet and try out frost for the first time.

After I got used to my new rotation and experimented a bit to see what frost could do I started to really enjoy it.. Now I'm 79 and I'm looking ahead at the prospect of switching back to fire at 80 to get my old dps back and I'm finding myself not looking forward to the prospect of losing all the control that frost gives me. Frankly, I've never felt safer on my mage as I have during this short period as a frost mage.

Here's my experience.

1-60 as fire .. for about 3 bubbles around level 50, I tried frost ... hated it (can't say why). At level 60, I tried a few things, Arc/fire, Arc/frost, full frost. Arc fire was cool with the big numbers and all ... but I hated the Mana issues (2-3 fights, drink ... 2-3 fights, drink - never had that, even as full fire). Perhaps it was the extra talents I got, perhaps the gear, perhaps a more open-minded approach, but Frost was awesome. I stuck with that until I got to 70.

I then started a long love affair with Arc/Fire and Full Fire again. Loved them both ... blowing things up before recount could even register a fight took place was at the same time disappointing (cos I couldn't go back at marvel at my "leetness") and exhilarating.

So when Wrath hit, I was a little torn between whether to go Frost or Fire for leveling. Ultimately, I decided to stick with frost for leveling, and it's worked well so far .. It's nice to be able to solo elites, and pretty much clear Tundra and Fjord solo, group quests included.

Then I hit 75 .. and so began a loooong debate in mah head ... Stay Frost, or give this new toy a try ... I've been 75 for about 3 days now, and haven't moved, all because I can't decide how to progress.

Well, I finally did it, I started a stock FFB build, and messed around on the wildlife floating around Angmar's hammer .... and OMG ... My first FFB crit for 4985 ... the mob was then slowed to the same crawl that it would have been had I Frostbolted him, and my next FFB crit as well (around 4700) ... dead mob (REALLY dead mob). (yes, Trill, I think I wet myself, and I didn't even wait until I was in bed)

Now, as someone who has always been attracted to the big crits on his mage (hence the massive effort to move to frost in the first place) ... I'm having a really tough time making a choice.

The chill effect seems to have the same nett effect with both FFB and FB ... but the FFB does much more damage (my FB's crit for around 4k, my FFB's are around 5k), then there's, hot streak for an instant Pyro (Big boom), blastwave for some neato knockback and DB for some cool bling - following each up with an insta-Flamstrike makes for some outrageous AOE combos. Frost, however, has the elemental, Ice barrier (which I'm dreading losing most of all), and some noticeable Mana efficiencies.

I guess it's the same across the board for all my toons ... high damage fun, or low downtime and high survivability (the notable exception being the rogue, whose survivability seems to depend on how much damage he does in order to kill before stuns are done).

Still undecided ... FFB is an immense amount of fun, but so is frost ... I can see him sitting in Angmar's for a while until I decide what to do. (frankly, Frostfire is heavily favoured at this time).

Well, when dual spec comes out, I'll still switch to frost for farming/5mans. I love the big numbers, and everyone oos and ahs at the animations and numbers, but I dunno how many times I don't get a ffb off, or hotstreak procs right as the mob dies. And I like to have plenty of pigs for raids, so I farm meat regularly, which would be a ton easier with frost. But hell if I'm gonna pay 100g a day/every other day, so I stick w/ ffb thru it all.

But, man, when I'm in a raid or on a dungeon boss, and I get into that zone with my ffb rotation, I'm just a total pyromaniac! Lovin it still. The semi-static pug I do raids with hurts for mana sometimes, and I almost went to one spec'd as frost, hoping the WE would help with that problem, but at the last minute, I panicked and was like, "NOOO, CAN'T RAID W/O FIRE!@# Someone summon me back in a sec." :)

My dps is still lacking, though, because my gear is pretty fine, just needs a re-enchant and some re-gemming when I get another gem slot, but I'm still not pushing the numbers I'm capable of because I'm not used to a rotation (oops, LB is g2g and I forgot about it, or, ****, I hit combustion before LB went off, or, dammit, I didn't need to hit scorch again, etc). It's getting better, though, and besides a few elitists who will only roll with a mage who does 5k dps, I am constantly invited to dungeons.

And I've stopped hitting my coldsnap button (which is now something else). lol

I love overkill.

Dual spec?

The most recent I heard is that it will be free in cities but will have a small fee in other places. Won't be usable while in combat or anything like that though of course.