Need help choosing my spec.

[Misaki]

Hello, when the expansion launched I started playing fire but now that we are some time into the expansion, from what I understand all three specs are going to be about the same during The Nighthold, So my question is what spec would you guys recommend I start playing and when should I start gearing for it? As of now I have the legendary ring Shard of Exodar and nothing else and my guild has 1 arcane mage, 2 fire mages and me another fire mage. I don't really care what spec I play and based off of my logs I'm not very good at Fire. What would you guys suggest I do? More importantly what spec will be the best for the Nighthold? I'm very willing to switch my loot spec over to frost and start gearing it up as well as maybe getting a legendary for the spec, but I want to start now so that by the time the Nighthold comes out I'll be fine and ready to raid with that spec. The most important thing for me is which spec would fit the raid the best based off of the mage specs we all ready have and which spec will perform the best? Or should I rather go multi-spec and swap on every boss? Even if it means a very annoying gearing process due to RNG legendaries. Thanks

[Curnivore]

For raids alone - as you ask for them only -, Arcane is probably the best raid spec, if we assume a future patch situation of numbers balance on their current utility and merits. It has the most potent defenses in the class by far, with Greater Invis, double Ice Barrier AND Displacement. The general utility of its DPS appears to be good at AOE and good at ST.

The most important caveats is that it has to be in melee to AOE and it's very sensitive to mana management and generally sensitive to rotation. But, that is not an issue in hard mode raiding because after many wipes the mage just repeats the same steps every time.

It's a cumbersome spec for general purpose since it's hard to predict the timings on random encounters, like the first pulls on raiding, 5mans, world.