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On a seperate note - I wish they'd do something with our Evocation. I've never liked the spell. I know it's better than it used to be, but it's very frustrating that neither MP5 (going away) or Spirit have been a valued stat. The mana gem is a decent option. However moving to just one pot per fight was frustrating. I wouldn't mind if it were a 3-5 minute CD (allowing 2 uses per fight)

However, I've been burned a few times when IV wasn't available and I needed to evocate. You get a few ticks in and then some boss mechanic breaks it (Or forces you to break it.)

My understanding on the hit cap is that we will be able to get hitcapped at each level, just that each level will require more hit. I would think this would be something like "you need 17% for this tier boss, 18% for this tier boss, 19% for this tier boss" etc etc. Hopefully they lower the hit needed for the first tier boss making it closer to heroic values so that people don't need tons and tons of hit while giving up good stats trying to get into the first tier.

If you think about the gear process, as a mage I have been fighting to stay just at hit capped, and have passed on some 251 / 264 "upgrades" because of the vastly wasted hit. They are trying to make it so you can't just use the same hit numbers and a few trinkets to stay at hit.

As for some of the mana regen items:



To me, this means that as an arcane mage, if I am low in mana I might not want to hit that arcane missiles proc, that I might want to ignore it and let it act as a mana gem instead.

Sure does look like Bliz wants to Nerf the damage output for mages by making DPS scale with how much Mana you have. This is only stated for Mana Adept for the Arcane tree, but I wonder if DPS scaling with mana is going to be for all trees/specs?
Not being able to conjure food/drinks till lvl 40 sucks a big one for lower level players. The partial reason that some people start a Mage is that they wont have to waste money on food/drinks unless they wanted to. Now they are going to force you to buy drinks and buy/cook food for use.

I think I agree with you. The sentence could have been written more clearly.

"Any spell that is resisted will return mana to the caster. Oh, by the way, any Arcane missiles that fail to launch will also return mana to the caster."


I think it's Blizz admitting that AM is a lousy option in many cases.

1. It is a core part of the Arcane Rotation. (So it's not a minor 'non-issue')
2. Mana is spent before the effect (Similar to all channeled spells you spend the mana before you see the DPS)
3. Movement or damage will break the effect. (Mob and Player actions will cancel the effect)
4. The only way to be certain damage won't break the effect is to dedicate 5 points to a Tier 1 talent.

When you look at the mechanics (Read: Not the damage, DoT, or slowing effect) of casting each of the 3 tier's most basic talents (Arcane Missiles, Fire Ball, Frost Bolt) Both Fire and Frost are far superior. Assuming no resistances and that you are hit capped, when you press Fireball/Frostbolt - you can be virtually certain that your mana will be spent to increase Damage on the mob. With AM you don't get that guarentee.

Then, considering both the DoT and the Slowing Effect, AM lacks any additional "Buff" to the spell. It's pure damage - both FB and FB have some player utility.

Just my opinion....