3.0.8a’s HIDDEN mage nerf!

The new patch that came out today has notes as follows:

General

• Human females Helms will no longer lift off the character’s head during a Special2H animation or during a HoldRifle animation.

Death Knights

• Howling Blast : The 5 second cooldown will now display correctly.

Hunters

• All Hunter aspects are no longer on the global cooldown that is shared with other Hunter abilities. All hunter aspects are now on a separate 1 second cooldown.

Warlocks

• Ritual of Summoning will now function as intended.

 

Now, you’d think that this wouldn’t affect mages. However, you’d be very, very wrong to think so. You see, Blizzard included a hidden change to Arcane Blast – now, when you cast Arcane Missiles, your Arcane Blast debuff goes away at the BEGINNING of your Missiles cast instead of at the end. This means that you’re gonna have to rework your rotation! You’ll end up losing about 500 DPS or so, but speccing Arcane’s still a DPS increase over Frostfire at this point, I think.

Your rotation should change to Arcane Blast x3 -> Arcane Barrage, although if Missile Barrage procs, use Arcane Missiles followed by Arcane Barrage instead of just Arcane Barrage. If Missile Barrage procs off of that Arcane Barrage, use the Arcane Missiles – Arcane Barrage combo again before building Arcane Blast again.

For all other strategies for arcane mages, check my last post.

On a related note, Blizzard did fix the problem with Mage Armor – it now correctly halves magic debuff durations, and does not double the rate that, say, lock dots tick at.

My latest respec and how to play it

It’s a good thing I don’t categorize this as a Fire mage blog anymore, because I just jumped back onto the Arcane bandwagon, following the latest trend after Blizzard buffed the ever-loving crap out of the tree in 3.0.8. You may remember last post when I mentioned that deep fire was mana-inefficient; I’m not gonna take what I said there back. However, I in no way intend to imply that any other leading spec in the current patch was inefficient, especially not my latest spec, 57/3/11. I was pointed to this spec after raiding Frostfire two days ago, and proceeded to try it out. (I’ve finally hit the 50g mark for respeccing, partly due to my involvement in arenas.) I was a little nervous since I was bringing an untested spec into a 25-man raid tonight, and my feelings were compounded by the fact that I was burning through mana on test dummies faster than I ever had as Frostfire, but after raiding with it, I saw a 1000-1500 DPS increase.

After the break: How to play 57/3/11, and a short discussion of the mechanics.

Frostfire vs. Deep Fireball specs in 3.0.8

So you’ve been raiding Frostfire through T7 content, and now Blizzard releases this patch that the theorycrafters say makes deep Fireball builds the best DPS.

They’re wrong, at least to a point. The problem with theorycrafting DPS numbers is you don’t see the more important number, and that’s mana longevity. You’re looking at an extra 100 or so mana per cast on your main nuke. Add in the higher mana costs for Scorch, Living Bomb, and Pyroblast, and you’re gonna be OOM regardless of whether you’re using regen items (mana gems, potion, Arcane Torrent if blood elf) or not. The spec probably won’t be viable until T8 content, when the increased mana pool and spirit-based regen (coupled with Mage Armor) from the improved gear will let you feasibly maintain mana. For now, though, definitely smart to stick with Frostfire.

A nice benefit with either spec in the new patch is the addition of Living Bomb to Hot Streak procs. The number of increased possible procs is pretty significant, especially in boss encounters. However, this makes it even more crucial to keep Living Bomb up in rotations.

Naxx strat outlines are all pretty much done, I’ll post a new one soon!

4/5 T7.5, and a great night…

I’d had some DC issues the last couple weeks. All of that’s fixed now. ^^ Didn’t DC once in Naxx this last week.

Won the T7.5 legs off Gluth, and got my 60th Emblem of Valor off Thaddius, so I got the shoulders too. That gave me my 5-set bonus, which is SICK for a Frostfire spec. 5% increased crit-strike damage? Yeah. Only have 1 blue to replace yet, too–just my Mark of the War Prisoner. (Although I may switch back to the Jewelcrafting trinket with the next patch, depending on the changes made.)

We did clear Naxx again, which was nice. No Malygos attempts tonight, but that was okay. ^^

Been playing the auction house, too. So far, I’m up 3000 gold in the past week–nice for me, since I’m almost always strapped for gold.

Off topic, I finally finished watching the “Hellsing: Order” series. Pretty good, not gonna lie, although I have seen better series. One of the very few ones with a halfway decent English dub, although the Japanese dub is still far superior. I’d probably give it a 7/10, if asked. Starting .hack//Roots now; I liked //SIGN, so I figure I’ll keep working through the franchise, although so far Roots has failed to measure up to its predecessor. Characters aren’t as accessible, although the soundtrack and story seem all right. I’ll withhold judgment for now, though.

H-Sartharion one-drake clear, H-Malygos to P3

Progress is being made. This Thursday, we killed Sartharion with the whelp drake up. We had 24 in raid for that attempt, even! Went to Malygos after, and got him to Phase 3 before the enrage timer, so we’re in pretty good shape for that fight, too. Probably gonna end up downing him next week.

I only need 4 badges for my T7.5 shoulders! Really excited.

Naxx strats: ANUB’REKHAN

I think it may have been somewhat unwise for me to start strats in the middle of the plague quarter. With that in mind, I’m going to start from the beginning again. Most guilds start in the Arachnid Quarter, and that’s where my next 3 guides are gonna focus on. However, if anyone still needs my Loatheb or Heigan strats, they are, of course, still up.

Pictures are hopefully okay; I have a lot of pictures in my screenshots folder, so it’s kinda take what I can find at this point.

This guide is going to walk you through Anub’Rekhan, the first boss in this wing. It’s not a very complex DPS fight, but you do have to stay on your toes throughout the encounter. Full strategy after the break.

The Nexus War has ended!

Yep, we did it.

After a good hour and a half of attempts, we killed the Aspect of Magic, Malygos, today.

This means. . .I can post a 10-man strategy sometime. ^_^

Anyway, we got him into Phase 3 a few times before actually killing him – our one successful attempt was scheduled to be our last one for the night. (As one of the raiders said, why can’t we just do that the first time?) We all died on the kill, and our RL d/c’d, but we made it. Ran back, got the loots. The shield dropped for Thenino, and I won the roll for the robes. (A HUGE upgrade from 10-man T7!) Had a couple people with the kill quest from Naxx, so grats to them on their new neckpieces - I wanna say that was Boom and Chroni, but I’m not sure. I think most of the raid got the “Champion of the Frozen Wastes” achievement too – a nice bonus for sure. I socketed my new chest with the +32 jewelcrafting gem pretty much immediately – planning to get +8 stats tomorrow.

Screenshots / killshot after the break.

H-Naxx clear!

Last night, Cloudy Day went up to try for Sapphiron and KT…and one-shot them both. We immediately headed over to Malygos, but unfortunately couldn’t make much progress there. However, we still had a great night!

The best caster sword in the game dropped, as did 2 mage T7.5 helms. Of course, I was thrilled – I still had a blue helm from heroics!

I did end up winning a helmet, fortunately – so I’m in pretty good shape for the coming raids. I’m planning to buy my T7.5 shoulders via badges, and that’s virtually the last piece of gear I’ll be replacing up until T8 content arrives. Quite excited.

I’ve been busy behind the scenes outlining most of the remaining Naxx strats. Next step is to find the best possible screenshots. ASA I’ve got things lined up, strats should be coming very quickly.

I’d like to put up some screenshots for Loatheb sometime soon, too. Just a matter of finding them.

Into the Obsidian Sanctum

I’ve downed Sartharion 3 times on 10-man and twice on 25-man as of this writing; however, I figured I’d mention it now since I just got my 25-man T7 gloves.

CD’s been doing 1- and 2-drake attempts, and we’ve done okay. Haven’t actually done it yet, but I’m placing my bets on it happening next week. Right now it’s just getting people used to the fight. Looking forward to the achievements. ^_^

Got the Deathchill Cloak crafted by Koho a couple days ago. I can safely say that it’s very worth it for any mage out there.

I’ve been getting my Dragon’s Eyes every day recently, saving for my Titanium Spellshock Ring. Once I craft that for myself and get a +spell damage Dragon’s Eye pattern, I should be giving myself a HUGE DPS upgrade. Really excited about that.

That’s pretty much teh last thing I need from Jewelcrafting too, so I can start stocking up on Dragon’s Eyes for guildies and/or the AH.

I’ve leveled my alt druid, Muatahur, 12 times in the past 6 days, including 4 yesterday. He’s currently L55, and I think I’ll be getting him up to 80 over the next couple weeks. Balance is a really fun tree–fun when my mage is in group with a boomkin too. Absolutely love Earth and Moon!

Promoted!

So I got promoted to Member rank in CD a couple days ago.

I really feel privileged to be in this guild, it really does feel like a family, and that’s what a guild’s supposed to be like. We’ve almost full-cleared H-Naxx now, and we’re really doing a good job as a guild of communicating and playing as a team, both in raid and out.

I really think I’ve found the perfect guild for me. I’ve come across some true friends through this guild, and have also gone through some personal growth.

Naxx strats: LOATHEB

Here we go, the second Naxxramas boss strategy! This time, I’m gonna show you how to down Loatheb, the last boss of the Plague Quarter.

I’m going to start this guide assuming that your group has JUST downed Heigan. In other words, you still have to get past the room with the Mario pipes. =)

Shameless plug

Well, I may have spent less time blogging about WoW recently, but I have been working hard on another project–I write music in my spare time, and I’ve just finished my second CD, entitled Marathon. I have a website for my music, but there are some domain issues right now, so I’m probably gonna be writing a couple things here and there about my music on this blog.

Mainly this album focuses on at least semi-ambient music, although I’m heavily influenced by techno as well. If you’d like to know more, feel free to contact me in-game or through comments. I’ll do my best to respond in a timely manner.

On a raiding-related note, my next strategy should be up as soon as I upload some screenshots.