Is it still OK to play Arcane over Frost?

[supervixen]

I'm getting negative feedback about playing arcane in WoD. My raid leader wants me to play Frost, which I don't mind doing if it's going to be beneficial but, I love Arcane. Apparently Frost has way more mobility and higher dps. The only spell I see that is instant is Ice Lance? And I suppose the pet continually does damage.


Anyhoo - just wondering if anyone is planning on playing Arcane for Mythic or with just default to what SimCraft has posted for patchwork and main Frost.

Cheers

[Eraze]

Frost may be more mobile but it feels so heavily reliant on procs and cooldowns given frostbolts damage is so weak.
I particularly don't like the way Frost feels at the moment so I would like to play arcane as well but that depends how well it scales.

[Komma]

Frost is definitely more mobile than Arcane, and has stronger numbers. At the moment, it is hard to deny that Frost is just a stronger spec overall. I can see why your raid leader would prefer that you play Frost.

That said, Arcane is viable (NOT optimal), and I have been spending a lot of time playing it. All current content can be done just fine as Arcane.

[durrtygoodz]

What sort of guild are you in?

Top 100 = do what he says and then enjoy arcane for farm
Outside top 100 = play what you like

[Garrod]

Playing Arcane until raiding starts next week at least. Might as well enjoy playing a spec for a bit before going back to wanting to punt a puppy.

[Mumrit]

What sort of guild are you in?

Top 100 = do what he says and then enjoy arcane for farm
Outside top 100 = play what you like

Agreed. Don't let someone bully you into something that isn't fun for you. WoW is a game.

[Drnda]

Agreed. Don't let someone bully you into something that isn't fun for you. WoW is a game.

The problem here is, people perceive the class some way and they will refuse to take you as arcane/fire to raids because "zomg frost is best!!!", completely ignoring the fact that at average guild (skill) level a good arcane player who does like the spec will perform better that way than Frost. But that's for completely different topic.

I would personally say, try first raid as Arcane. If you lag behind other dps or feel like you're underperforming, try next reset, same bosses as Frost, then Arcane again. Then you'll see.

[supervixen]

Oh I would switch to whatever is the most beneficial. We had the hotfix yesterday so Im unsure if it really brought Arcane up that much with the 10% damage increase to Arcane Blast.

I will try arcane out next week in Highmaul, if its really behind my other frost mage I'll make the switch. I raid in a semi-hardcore guild.

Just was curious as to what other arcane players are doing...

[durrtygoodz]

The problem here is, people perceive the class some way and they will refuse to take you as arcane/fire to raids because "zomg frost is best!!!", completely ignoring the fact that at average guild (skill) level a good arcane player who does like the spec will perform better that way than Frost. But that's for completely different topic.

Yeah that's bullshit. I got into a top 100 guild last tier as frost which was the worst mage spec, after only playing the game for about 6 months. If you play perfectly then you can do anything you want with the spec you want. The spec you play doesn't really matter, unless ofc you're in a top progress guild in which case you would know what needs to be played on progress anyway.

[Magiclol]

Frost is king. We all know this, and I plan to raid as frost. But I have a question:

If my gear is leaning towards Mastery by a huge margin (raid buffed: double my haste and crit, with MS 1/4), do I play arcane? I would hate to gem and enchant pure MS only to find out I could have put more dps on the table as arcane.


A few facts about me:
I don't care what spec I play, I love dps. Whatever spec does best, I play it. I get my moneys worth by contributing the most to my raid that I can, and will practice outside of raid as much as possible to master the spec (or at least be on par with it)

[Chev]

Frost is king. We all know this, and I plan to raid as frost. But I have a question:

If my gear is leaning towards Mastery by a huge margin (raid buffed: double my haste and crit, with MS 1/4), do I play arcane? I would hate to gem and enchant pure MS only to find out I could have put more dps on the table as arcane.


A few facts about me:
I don't care what spec I play, I love dps. Whatever spec does best, I play it. I get my moneys worth by contributing the most to my raid that I can, and will practice outside of raid as much as possible to master the spec (or at least be on par with it)

With your gear, you are currently simming better with Frost.

[nathyiel]

Frost is king. We all know this, and I plan to raid as frost. But I have a question:

If my gear is leaning towards Mastery by a huge margin (raid buffed: double my haste and crit, with MS 1/4), do I play arcane? I would hate to gem and enchant pure MS only to find out I could have put more dps on the table as arcane.

Reading frost is king is so good (I start in Woltk when frost was PvP only).
I think we will see another change (just before mythic ?) but I will say that outside of playing Frost with UM & TV, I will say that Mastery is by far our worst stat. It's simply because of the number of fight with a lot of mob, etc.

And if you have that much Mastery, Arcane might end up a better choice.