Spec switching for 7.3.2 Antorus Raid

[Enimonemo]

I’ve rolled a mage for Legion and played Arcane ever since. I feel rather upset about the fact that the spec never got a highlight in any competitive PvE aspect. With the coming of T21 and it’s lackluster tierset for Arcane, I was wondering how much time would it take to get to the same powerlevel on a different spec, just so I don’t feel bad about playing a much weaker version of mage let that be mythic raiding or M+.
Currently, I have every Arcane legendary and neutral legendary, none for Fire and Frost. My weapon is about 10 levels higher on Arcane than the other two specs.
On the other hand I really enjoy playing Arcane with the mana management playstyle and the freedom it gives, being a much more proactive spec than reactive unlike fire or frost. Do I really gimp my chances of getting into a mythic raiding guild by a lot by playing Arcane? (Mythic Nighthold killed the guild I was in, took a break during early ToS, now I’m back). Is it even worth switching to a different spec? If so, how much time does it take to obtain the legendaries, reallocate stats according to stat priority and also leveling up the weapon?

[Ribbit]

You ask a lot of questions here, many of which i'm not in a position to answer, but the one i can address for you is 'Do I really gimp my chances of getting into a mythic raiding guild by a lot by playing Arcane?'.

I also chose to continue with Arcane at the start of Legion, and rather stubbornly refused to switch even when its performance was questioned by the masses. A couple of months back my raiding guild decided to call it a day after killing mythic mistress and i too said to myself, 'i bet it's gonna be hard to find a competitive raiding guild who will accept me as an arcane only mage'. How wrong i was. I used the wowprogress feature for 'players started looking for guild', and i was inundated with requests from guilds with mythic progress ranging from 5/9 - 7/9 mythic in a matter of hours. Yes i had a very high item level. Yes i had very good logs. Those things will help - but the point i'm making here is that being 'arcane only' doesn't carry the stigma many think it does, and the recruiters in many mythic guilds will gladly give you the trial you want regardless. From that point on you just have to prove u can play arcane at a competitive level to keep ur spot, and there are certainly fights in ToS mythic where u can prove ur worth (Mythic KJ especially).

[Asirand]

I can also agree with Ribbit, being arcane MS, or even only arcane, should not gimp you in anyway. However, that is only if you have good logs. There is a pretty significant margin of dps between a 50% parser and an 80% parser. In fact so much so, that the better you do with arcane, the more likely you are going to be recruited over that mediocre fire/frost mage that is only there because they are the flavor of the month so to speak.

The only fights that are significantly harder to catch up to, for instance fire, are fights like avatar, where fire literally gets free cleave, and is a long ST fight on progression. Arcane loses a lot more dps over long term fights then the other 2 specs do, if played at a similar skill level, which is due simply because of arcane being a burst spec. What I would generally do, especially if your only looking into playing mage, duel spec into fire or frost as well. You can continue to play arcane, until you get leggos for fire/frost, and learn how to play the alternate spec on farm content. On progression still play arcane, but eventually your other spec will catch up, and beat your arcane damage depending on the fights.

Also Arcane in mythic is much stronger than in heroic. Goroth being a short ST fight, DI having adds, Harj and Mistress are always good for arcane, Desolate host having absolutely metric fuck tons of potential aoe dmg compared to heroic. Maiden dmg buffs can be aligned with burst. Avatar is really the only bad boss per say for mythic for arcane. You would look more appealing for a mythic guild if you were able to pay another mage spec, however arcane in mythic this tier can be nuts if played correctly and you should be able to find a mythic guild as long as you meet their general requirements.

[Enimonemo]

Thank you for your replies! They were very helpful! Just to answer a few things, my item level is a bit above average for Hc raider standing at 938. I didn't parse all that well this far, since the fights were still new to me, but looking back at my parses, there is a clear learning curve and I managed to score in 75th percentile across all fights but Mistress and KJ.