3.2.2 Arcane: Optimizing for ToC with Incanter’s Absorption

One of my guildies and I were brainstorming some ideas for a new Arcane spec taking advantage of the mechanics in the fights in ToC, and we came up with a nice spec that maximizes theoretical DPS while keeping all of the core talents of the build.

Here’s a link to my WoW Armory profile; I may have my active spec set incorrectly, but you can still look at the Arcane spec.

Some of the major differences you may note are the lack of any points in either Arcane Stability or Magic Attunement (I don’t really feel the lack of 6 yd of range), as well as not taking Arcane Barrage. This is because, as I have mentioned before, the ideal rotation for Arcane is Arcane Blast x4 (or more, if you have the gear – which I don’t anymore) -> Arcane Missiles. What I’ve done with the extra talent points I freed up was dump them into Student of the Mind for a small crit bonus (although I’m not really geared for Spirit; once I get some more gear, this talent will only get better), and also pick up 3/3 Incanter’s Absorption.

Yes, Incanter’s Absorption. I don’t know whether I’ve said this on my blog, but I held for a very long time that IA was a cool sounding talent with no practical application, as you’d burn too much mana with Mana Shield absorbing incidental damage. I ended up being proved very, very wrong in 3.2 – you still aren’t burning mana, GCD’s, or anything using Mana Shield, Frost Ward, or Fire Ward, but Blizzard gave us a really cool opportunity to have a LOT of spellpower on certain fights.

Think about the mechanics of Val’kyr Twins. You pick a color aura to have – and both twins are doing a 1500/x time global AoE. By picking up an aura from the portal, you…ABSORB the damage from that color aura. ABSORB. That means…a HUGE bonus to spellpower from IA. We’re talking a hundreds-of-DPS increase here – my spellpower literally went up by 800 or more.

Situationally, you could probably gain some DPS in certain situations too – I’m thinking fires on some fights with a situational Flame Ward, or something to that effect – but largely you’re going to see the benefit coming from incidental, fight-based absorptions. Regardless, IA has shown itself as a decent utility talent, and I recommend grabbing it.

Wacky tanking feats, and a short break.

Hello again, friends.

I’m sorry it’s been so long since my last post; I’ve been having some login issues recently with WordPress. It seems to be somewhat solved now, so onwards!

I’ve been doing some rather silly things tanking recently. Just tonight, I managed to take down Emalon as a solo tank, on 25-man difficulty – rather fun stuff, not gonna lie. Just hit 50k health raid buffed on my paladin, too, which has really helped as my guild has started working on 10-man Trial of the Grand Crusader. All sorts of fun.

All fun and games aside, though, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to step back and reassess my priorities right now. This, for me, entails a hiatus from WoW, and, by extension, from blogging. I fully expect to be back, but right now a break is needed.

Cheers.

(Before I leave, I’ll post a link to my mage’s new Arcane spec – some really cool new stuff in it that I’ll explain!)

Quiet moments and what to do with them

There hasn’t been a lot going on recently in WoW for me. The big news right now is finally downing Jaraxxus and Faction Champs on 10-man hardmode, which is pretty cool – but I can’t really think of anything past that.

For once in my blogging career, I’m actually at a loss for anything to say.

I’ll probably have something interesting posted up here soon, if not my impressions of Champions Online, then at least something. I guess this post is largely just to let you know I’m still alive. =\

My Aion experiences

I recently cancelled my Aion account.

It was a fun game, but I had some problems with it; mainly, it felt way too grindy. I could kill mobs for much better XP/hour than I could get questing, which in my opinion is bad design. In addition, I just wasn’t getting as much enjoyment value out of it as I do with WoW.

There were some serious upsides to Aion, though; the graphics were outstanding, as was the character customization – I could change every aspect of my character’s appearance, which was pretty neat. Although class diversity was limited, the secondary class system combined with chain skills made playing any class unique and fun. Area design was also excellent, with diverse landscapes, each with its own set of mobs and quests. Abyss stuff was really neat, too, but again, it just wasn’t as fun for me as WoW is.

My overall impression of the game was that of a polished work, but not one that could sustain my interest. There were some very well done aspects of the game, and others that were less awesome – it definitely would appeal to some people, but alas, I am not one of them.

I’ve started playing Champions Online now, too – I’ll post my impressions of that game sometime in the near future.