Fire Mage Needs Help, My Last Chance

[BorgPokerPro]

Hello, I guess I am coming here as a last resort to see if maybe someone can give me some advice to make me fall in love with the game again cause at this point I am about to walk away from something I have played and loved for almost 13 years. When I say last resort its just I honestly did not know about this website until someone told me.

Brief background I have been playing this game since Vanilla. I am 39 years old almost 40 and I spent the first 7 years raiding as a healer (Priest/Druid) then I played the next two as a warlock then I fell in love with my mage and discovered where has it been all my life and love the class. I currently run a guild and raid team where we are pretty solid. Right now we ranked 11th on server currently 7/7 N and 3/7 H so we do alright. But I am not holding up.

First off let me say I am a clicker. I know GROSS. But I have been doing it for 12 years and even though I own a razer Naga I just can not get comfortable with the buttons on the side. Plus I feel my issues are ALOT bigger then that. I mean most have told me clicking my drop me 15k off the pace. But I am like 70 to 80 k off the pace.

I am currently raiding and just counting boss encounters I am averaging I would say about 140k. I have my pulls where I am around 210 or even 225. But most pulls are down around 140k and sometimes even lower. I can not figure out what is wrong. I am fire spec. I seem to open all pulls strong. I open with my set rotation, pop m cooldowns , hit my procs, my fireblast, phoenix yada yada yada And I will come out the gate at 350k or even 400k. Then it seems when I am waiting for everything to come back around and I am casting fireball and nothing else cause everything is on timer I fall off a cliff like watching the titanic sink. I feel like maybe I will never be able to play at a level that does not make me feel like I am too old to game. I look at logs at other guilds on my server and their mages and they are same spec, same talent in most cases less geared then I am but in logs they doing 210k or more on boss encounters. So please if you can help me, teach me, I am willing to learn I want to not lose the game I love for most of my life in computer gaming.

Here is a link to my profile so you can see my talent choices and such...

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/d ... ond/simple

Here is a link to our raid tonight

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/fT ... amage-done" target="_blank

I am willing to take any tips I can get to play the class I love. Thanks for being willing to listen and try and help in advance.

[Komma]

First off let me say I am a clicker. I know GROSS. But I have been doing it for 12 years and even though I own a razer Naga I just can not get comfortable with the buttons on the side. Plus I feel my issues are ALOT bigger then that. I mean most have told me clicking my drop me 15k off the pace. But I am like 70 to 80 k off the pace.

I don't have time to do a full log review right now, but what your problem lies right in what you've said here. "Clicking" itself is not a problem. Not being able to use your abilities efficiently is a problem. Let me give you a real example of how you are hurting yourself, with an excerpt from the log:

00:10:44.217 Diâmond casts Pyroblast on Ysondre
00:10:45.436 Diâmond casts Fire Blast on Ysondre
00:10:46.706 Diâmond casts Combustion
00:10:47.438 Diâmond begins casting Fireball
00:10:49.319 Diâmond casts Fireball on Ysondre

This excerpt here says you used an instant Pyroblast, followed by a Fire Blast, Followed by Combustion and beginning to cast a Fireball. This combination is already weird, but let's put that aside and look at what's more important: how well you used your time.

Fire Blast and Combustion do not require casting, and can be used at any time. Pyroblast requires 1 GCD to recover from, which we can conservatively estimate as ~1.4 seconds. Instead of casting Fireball immediately once 1.4 seconds was up, you spent (47.438 - 44.217) = 3.221 seconds before starting to cast a Fireball. You're taking more than twice as long as you need to. In other words, you're doing less than half the DPS you can. And as if that wasn't enough, since Combustion can be used just before you finish casting Fireball, you've wasted more than a quarter of your precious 10 seconds of Combustion.

The number one rule as a caster in World of Warcraft is "Always Be Casting". That means pressing the correct buttons as quickly, and as often as possible. By taking twice as long to press the same buttons, it's like you're running a marathon, but stop and stand still every few meters.

Start by using all the buttons on your computer. Your problems can't be fixed by reading a guide and finding out what you need to do. Instead, you need to put effort into it and execute efficiently.

[macbeet]

Great Reply from Komma! If I were to do a study on a large corpus of players, I'd certainly confirm that activating spells by mouse clicks rather than keyboard (or multi button mice) is more error prone and slower in stress situations. That does not mean that this cannot work for you, but it means that you've chosen a path that's most likely harder for you.

Now let's look at the recent output from Simcraft (http://www.simulationcraft.org/reports/Raid_T19P.html" target="_blank) and look for the 'Actions per Minute' table. You can read this as "this is the amount of mouse clicks I have to do on average without moving". Unsurprisingly, hunters are a bit more relaxed to play, the cliché is somewhat true. Let's assume you really like playing mage, you are most likely having an easier time to perform closer to the simulation in arcane than on frost.

Another thing you can try to minimize delays is to use cast sequence macros. Especially now that fire burn has a very predictable cast sequence, you should be able to reduce the delay between spells to a minimum, irregardless of what input method you chose. That's just one of these things that doesn't earn you much respect but it will allow you to have very consistent openers.

[Rlo]

I'm not saying it's a problem but maybe you should start using keys for spells, since you've played for 12 years now clicking maybe it will feel like a different game that you have to fall in love with all over again.

[BorgPokerPro]

Great Reply from Komma! If I were to do a study on a large corpus of players, I'd certainly confirm that activating spells by mouse clicks rather than keyboard (or multi button mice) is more error prone and slower in stress situations. That does not mean that this cannot work for you, but it means that you've chosen a path that's most likely harder for you.

Now let's look at the recent output from Simcraft (http://www.simulationcraft.org/reports/Raid_T19P.html" target="_blank) and look for the 'Actions per Minute' table. You can read this as "this is the amount of mouse clicks I have to do on average without moving". Unsurprisingly, hunters are a bit more relaxed to play, the cliché is somewhat true. Let's assume you really like playing mage, you are most likely having an easier time to perform closer to the simulation in arcane than on frost.

Another thing you can try to minimize delays is to use cast sequence macros. Especially now that fire burn has a very predictable cast sequence, you should be able to reduce the delay between spells to a minimum, irregardless of what input method you chose. That's just one of these things that doesn't earn you much respect but it will allow you to have very consistent openers.

Do you recommend a certain cast sequence macro?

I feel like my timing on what is coming up and what to use is off really bad

[BorgPokerPro]

First off let me say I am a clicker. I know GROSS. But I have been doing it for 12 years and even though I own a razer Naga I just can not get comfortable with the buttons on the side. Plus I feel my issues are ALOT bigger then that. I mean most have told me clicking my drop me 15k off the pace. But I am like 70 to 80 k off the pace.

I don't have time to do a full log review right now, but what your problem lies right in what you've said here. "Clicking" itself is not a problem. Not being able to use your abilities efficiently is a problem. Let me give you a real example of how you are hurting yourself, with an excerpt from the log:

00:10:44.217 Diâmond casts Pyroblast on Ysondre
00:10:45.436 Diâmond casts Fire Blast on Ysondre
00:10:46.706 Diâmond casts Combustion
00:10:47.438 Diâmond begins casting Fireball
00:10:49.319 Diâmond casts Fireball on Ysondre

This excerpt here says you used an instant Pyroblast, followed by a Fire Blast, Followed by Combustion and beginning to cast a Fireball. This combination is already weird, but let's put that aside and look at what's more important: how well you used your time.

Fire Blast and Combustion do not require casting, and can be used at any time. Pyroblast requires 1 GCD to recover from, which we can conservatively estimate as ~1.4 seconds. Instead of casting Fireball immediately once 1.4 seconds was up, you spent (47.438 - 44.217) = 3.221 seconds before starting to cast a Fireball. You're taking more than twice as long as you need to. In other words, you're doing less than half the DPS you can. And as if that wasn't enough, since Combustion can be used just before you finish casting Fireball, you've wasted more than a quarter of your precious 10 seconds of Combustion.

The number one rule as a caster in World of Warcraft is "Always Be Casting". That means pressing the correct buttons as quickly, and as often as possible. By taking twice as long to press the same buttons, it's like you're running a marathon, but stop and stand still every few meters.

Start by using all the buttons on your computer. Your problems can't be fixed by reading a guide and finding out what you need to do. Instead, you need to put effort into it and execute efficiently.

Wow so much I am wasting as far as time. I feel like my rotation to open a boss fight is solid and then during the fight I am lost as to what to cast when

[Kalarr]

I think I may be able to offer some advice as well about using the Naga. I bought mine about 3 years ago and have since replaced it with the most current model... it took a good 2 weeks to get completely used to it and use it well.

I did NOT put my main rotation spells on my naga keys. As some advice, I would put your CDs on your Naga keys and I guess, click, your rotation. i.e. my combution is Naga Key 3, and my bloodlust is naga 10. complete opposite corners. I also keep invis, potions, and ice block on my Naga. Just practice doing your opener on a dummy and keep your thumb rested on your combustion and practice using it over and over until it feels natural.

Trust me, once you get used to using the Naga buttons, you will never want to play without it.

[shvndrgn]

Code: Select all

/castsequence reset=60 Rune of Power, Phoenix's Flames, Fire Blast, Pyroblast, Fire Blast, Pyroblast, Flame On, Fire Blast, Pyroblast, Fire Blast, Pryoblast, Phoenix's Flames, Pyroblast, Phoenix's Flames, Pyroblast

This sequence assumes you're pre-potting with Potion of Deadly Grace and using Flame On and Rune of Power (RoP). From the logs you included, you have Incanter's Flow, which would be a great talent if RoP didn't destroy it in DPS potential during Combustion. The potion is strong enough that precasting anything is at best DPS neutral, and if you don't crit, definitely a loss over burning a Phoenix's Flames (PF) to ensure the start of your crit chain. Make sure you activate Combustion before your first Pryoblast. Depending on your haste and if Bloodlust/Time Warp was used on the pull you should get through the whole sequence right as Combustion is falling off.

You can use this macro every time Combustion is up, but be warned that it will stall out if you don't start the rotation with at least one charge of Rune of Power, both charges of Fire Blast, and Flame On available. If you're going to use it every combust, I would make sure you start the macro when you've already consumed any Heating Up or Hot Streak procs.

As to what you should be doing between combusts, make sure you don't cap on RoP or PF charges. Use PF during RoP for extra Hot Streak procs to make the most of both. Since you're clicking it'll be difficult, but the way to maximize your GCDs outside of Combust is to get Hot Streak up, then cast another Fireball. When the cast finishes, immediately use Pryoblast. As Pyroblast has no travel time, it will hit before the Fireball so Hot Streak isn't wasted. If both crit, you get another Hot Streak. Cast another Fireball and Pyroblast again as soon as the cast finishes. If only one spell crit, cast Fire Blast, if available, during the Fireball cast to get Hot Streak back up. If neither spell crit, cast Fireball until you get a crit, then Fire Blast as above.

Make sure when Combustion is about to come off cooldown you stop using Fire Blast and Rune of Power so you have 2 charges up for your Combust.