Gone arcane - many questions

[Jenkat]

Oh - well . . . I could just tell that you know what you are talking about. It shines so clearly through everything that you write. And it is commendable that you are so willing to use your knowledge to help others. I'll be posting from time to time here if you do not mind as I run into new problems and have new questions. I hope you keep an eye on this thread. <3

[Jenkat]

I was just in looking at your logs on Raggy and see that you really do not use Incanter's Absorbsion. I remember you writing that it is a dps loss. I'm going to take my talent points out of that and put them into Improved Arcane Explosion for this fight. But I do want to know: Is there a fight where Incanter's Absorbsion is actually a dps boost or is it always a loss and why?

Also I'm curious about the Lightweave buff that you are getting. Where does that come from.

[Ishamaelazure]

Lightweave buff comes from tailoring proff and is cloak enchant. Also intrested in the incanters absorb buff use this myself is it not good on rag or in general and if in general where would you recomend moving the points to have pretty much same set up as jenkat

[Airowird]

I personally don't see the Incanter's Absorption as a DPS loss, but more as a Compensation for doing something non-damagy, similar to Invocation.

That said, if you asked me for a spec without IA I'ld probably go for something like http://www.wowhead.com/talent#ohIMMRhorRRof0bZc which doesn't seem to be much better imho.

[leethaxor]

I was just in looking at your logs on Raggy and see that you really do not use Incanter's Absorbsion.

We hit rag at about 130 to 2am. I'm tired, annoyed, and most likely running on autopilot. At that point I generally just want the week to be over to I can chill with a sailor (a type of rum far better then captain) and coke and put the night to rest. Also its a dps loss to shield myself, I'll outline below.

Also I'm curious about the Lightweave buff that you are getting. Where does that come from.

Tailoring professional enchant to your cape

I remember you writing that it is a dps loss. I'm going to take my talent points out of that and put them into Improved Arcane Explosion for this fight. But I do want to know: Is there a fight where Incanter's Absorbsion is actually a dps boost or is it always a loss and why?

Casting IA over casting AB is a dps loss. The 2k spell power will only cover about 5 AB's, and even if it adds 2k damage you only get an extra 10k damage out of that. And even a no stack arcane blast hits for more damage then that.

I was running IA just so it wasn't as much as a DPS loss for H beth progression. So I wouldn't die when I had to jump on a web in acid, then get to the top and eat a cinderflare at 5% health or some BS. Its easy to calculate how much dps a corpse does.

Airowind (Do you sleep bro?) is right. IA is a reward for proper shielding; It goes back to my last sentence. Dying is always a Dps loss.

The 4 talents you move around a bit are:
-Imp AE: Good for AoE'ing adds. Most useful on rhyolith, or beth.
-IA: Good for predictable bursts of damage. Beth, Rhyolith, Majordomo, Rag
-Nether vortex: Good for adds that won't be tanked but must be killed. Beth, normal shannox, rag
-Fire power: Solid single target buff to flame orb.

[Ishamaelazure]

Cool thx for advice guys

[mielikinna]

I've actually found IA to be a huge DPS boost when used well. Having Mage Armor up for when traps are popped is one thing I do. Be careful using Mana Shield. If you are in a situation where the knockback would be a raid detriment, don't use it. Examples are molten elementals clumping up in P2 Rag and the Heroic Rhyolith encounter in general (knocking obsidians into boss FTL).

[Jenkat]

I was using IA too on the trap dentonation. =) I'm going to try not using it this week and see if there is a big difference.

I have a question as to elitist jerk's RAWR. I've used it to get my stats in order with gemming and reforging and it all looks ok except that it has me a bit heavy on crit and low on mastery: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte.../Jenkat/simple. I'm just wondering - is RAWR always right?

[mielikinna]

The mage model on rawr is probably the most up to date and accurate model. Its not like it has you reforging into crit, its just what your gear has.

[Jenkat]

Thanks Mielikinna! =)

Here is a log from a miserable night of wiping on Raggy. We had a great first try and then it just went downhill. I think that my dps was better with IA. Also I ended up having to detonate all the traps alone after your Shadowpriest dced which really affected my dps. Do you guys have any tips on how to do this more effectively?
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-d9w0slelfv8g1od9/

[leethaxor]

Are you delaying your arcane power + mana gem to use with mirror images?

[Jenkat]

I put all my cds (except the moonwell chalice) in a macro that I use. Mirror images is in that macro. But I think i can use the macro when mirror images is on cd - the other things can still be activated.

I burst at the beginning of phase one and phase two. We did not make it properly to phase three cause of stupid mistakes and bad connections that night. I only want to use arcane power once in phase 1 and 2 because if I use it late in the phase, then I do not have PoM rdy for the adds. I don't know why, but is seems to get activated together with Arcane Power and then it is not ready for the adds that must be killed quickly.

I also have a question: If I'm bursting and I have to move a bit (due to for example a trap) - should i use Abarr while moving and break my stacks of AB? Or would it be better to just not cast at all while I move away and then resume casting AB? What do you do?

[mielikinna]

I put all my cds (except the moonwell chalice) in a macro that I use. Mirror images is in that macro. But I think i can use the macro when mirror images is on cd - the other things can still be activated.

I don't know why, but is seems to get activated together with Arcane Power and then it is not ready for the adds that must be killed quickly.

I also have a question: If I'm bursting and I have to move a bit (due to for example a trap) - should i use Abarr while moving and break my stacks of AB? Or would it be better to just not cast at all while I move away and then resume casting AB? What do you do?

If you Glyph Arcane Power, you still get a GCD using an all in one macro for activating your images. It is actually less cooldown time to hit AP then images. And yes, even if one of the abilities is on cooldown, the macro will still activate the rest.

Does your all in one macro have both PoM and AP? You cannot have both up at the same time, but they do not share a cooldown.

For the last question, how long will the target live? The longer after you move that the target lives, the more dps gain it is to wait and resume casting AB. For filler, I recommend Ice Lance so you aren't running doing nothing. If you plan to be moving for long enough for your stacks to drop, I'd use Abarr and Ice Lance.

[leethaxor]

Here if you have enough time in p1 then you can get off a second burn phase. I just saw mirrors being used with each burn phase and figured that is what was happening.

[Jenkat]

Thanks for the answers Mielikinna. I will take Mirror Images out of my macro. No PoM is not in the macro - but Arcane Power, Mana Gem and Lifeblood are.

You advice on the moving and casting is very, very helpful. What do you think about using Fire Blast then Ice Lance as the movement spells to not break the AB stacks?

And guess what guys? We ONE-SHOT Raggy last night. I was sooo happy!!! =) Here is the log: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-t139ri0bnkcfk0u6/

[mielikinna]

I prefer ice lance because it doesn't have a cooldown, and when i'm moving I want to be more worried about where I am and where I'm going than about spell CD's. Also, I think the damage is very similar between ice lance and fire blast.

[Jenkat]

I use this macro for movement casting: /castsequence reset=8 arcane barrage, fire blast, ice lance, ice lance, ice lance, ice lance

But I'm going to take ABarr out of it now after reading what you guys write here. My fire blast is slightly higher dmg than my ice lance so I want to keep using it. With this macro I do not need to be concerned about the cd. I just spam the macro key. But, as I said, I will redo it without Abarr.

[Jenkat]

I'm back again with another question. I still seem to be working to get my head around playing arcane in cata. I remember in wotlk, that a mage should be out of mana by the end of the fight. Is that true in cata as well?

Also my MageManaBar tells me sometimes that i wasted x amount of mana. What does it mean by that?

[mielikinna]

Yes, mana = damage. If you are near the end of a fight, just burn your mana.

MageManaBar is likely telling you that because you regenned above 100% mana, so you wasted that mana regen.

[Jenkat]

Thanks, Mielikinna! =) I really think that this will help me. I was so focused on hovering around 90% mana that I totally got confused. Thanks for sorting me out! <3

Now that we got Raggy down for the second time, we are moving on to hcs. So I'm quite excited about that. We will be doing Shannox on wednesday, so I'm open to any tips that you may have on that encounter.