Arcane questions that I can't find the answers to...
Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2019 9:32 am
So, I just came back to BFA after a long break, Eternal Palace is the current raid tier, and Nylotha(?) is coming very soon. I've been having a hard time finding a spec of Mage I can really get into (basically I've been bouncing between all 3 specs) and put out some pretty decent damage.
Every single article, guide, or informational video seems to be a tad out dated for Arcane. It's the spec I most enjoy about Mage, and I've been told already that Fire is the way to go, including the next patch. I can agree, and do enjoy Fire, but I'd really like to master Arcane and Fire, since Fire is pretty straight forward anyways.
I came back to the game, and realize that I was carried through some content, but worked my way up to 420, then hit about 433, and I assumed that I was doing my burn/conserves correctly.
That all being said, almost everything tells me to sim myself, so now that I've done quite a few Mythic/Mythic+ dungeons and I don't do so bad, but when I started raiding with my guild again, my damage is more than sub par. Realizing that still trying to learn mechanics on a farm raid is silly, but nonetheless hinders me, I sim at 40k DPS, but realistically, I pull less than that, abysmally less on some fights.
First, I run IF, mostly because I don't know exactly when/how RoP can or should be used in boss encounters (for example, how many I'll get in an encounter, whether I'll have to move, etc), so I stick with IF. Once I learn all that stuff, I'll swap over to RoP. I do know how to use it, but I just don't know how much more DPS I'd squeeze out it on any given encounter. (Raidbots says I'd get an extra 1.7k out of it)
Second, Azerite Traits; this one was more than confusing, as I have a very limited amount of Azerite gear to play around with, and with bouncing between the specs, I've sort of settled into what (https://www.herodamage.com/mage/azerite ... t24-arcane) tells me, and I just so happen to have the pieces for, that Arcane Pummeling x3, and Equipose x3 would yield the most damage (w/Amplification talented) but I'm reading almost everywhere else that I should be aiming for Galv Spark x2(3) and Equipose x3 and (Arcane Pummeling x1) [being that 3x GS would do better than 2x GS 1x AP) and talenting for Rule of Threes. Then I remember that most things seem to be outdated anyways, and much of this may have changed. (Edit; also noting that I'm short on essences/levels of essences, so also adding the question, which ones should I be working towards?)
Third, mana rotation, I've seen it in the threads now multiple times that there seems to be some debate about conserve phases and whether or not I should be using Evo before a burn or to recover from one. I tend to stick to the latter, as what I'll generally do in a burn is using CDs, and burning to no mana, using AM procs after AP has ended, using PoM 2 seconds before AP ends, and then Evo back up to 100% (Abarr into CU) and then try to maintain 70% mana. Is this correct, or should I be doing mini burns when possible and expending that mana to 30-50%?
Fourth, weapons. Now, keeping in mind that I do try to sim everything, I got pretty "lucky" as it were, to obtain a 440 Seabreeze. Which is nice, has lots of Stam/Int, and a Haste proc, which is kind of cool, but has absolutely no secondary stats, and I feel like secondaries are almost more important than Int. Should be trying to complete a OneH/OffH, or trying for the Staff from Azshara, lower ilvl, more stats? I don't quite understand the jist of having a massive weapon that maybe gives haste here and there, considering how much more value crit/mastery would provide, or even Vers. (Raidbots puts Vers as my second highest DPS value secondary currently)
Fifth, and hopefully finally, the extra stats. I know sockets/leech are decent tertiary stats, but all I ever seem to get is Avoidance, how much more important would sockets be compared to ilvl. Some people have told me it's about 15 ilvls, and others state that a socket can outweigh nearly 50 ilvls. I would generally lean to 15, as 50 seems outlandish, but I'm here, so I may as well ask...
Thank you for reading, and hopefully I can be helped, as I've actually enjoyed most of my time back, though grinding out Pathfinder wasn't exactly "joyful".
Every single article, guide, or informational video seems to be a tad out dated for Arcane. It's the spec I most enjoy about Mage, and I've been told already that Fire is the way to go, including the next patch. I can agree, and do enjoy Fire, but I'd really like to master Arcane and Fire, since Fire is pretty straight forward anyways.
I came back to the game, and realize that I was carried through some content, but worked my way up to 420, then hit about 433, and I assumed that I was doing my burn/conserves correctly.
That all being said, almost everything tells me to sim myself, so now that I've done quite a few Mythic/Mythic+ dungeons and I don't do so bad, but when I started raiding with my guild again, my damage is more than sub par. Realizing that still trying to learn mechanics on a farm raid is silly, but nonetheless hinders me, I sim at 40k DPS, but realistically, I pull less than that, abysmally less on some fights.
First, I run IF, mostly because I don't know exactly when/how RoP can or should be used in boss encounters (for example, how many I'll get in an encounter, whether I'll have to move, etc), so I stick with IF. Once I learn all that stuff, I'll swap over to RoP. I do know how to use it, but I just don't know how much more DPS I'd squeeze out it on any given encounter. (Raidbots says I'd get an extra 1.7k out of it)
Second, Azerite Traits; this one was more than confusing, as I have a very limited amount of Azerite gear to play around with, and with bouncing between the specs, I've sort of settled into what (https://www.herodamage.com/mage/azerite ... t24-arcane) tells me, and I just so happen to have the pieces for, that Arcane Pummeling x3, and Equipose x3 would yield the most damage (w/Amplification talented) but I'm reading almost everywhere else that I should be aiming for Galv Spark x2(3) and Equipose x3 and (Arcane Pummeling x1) [being that 3x GS would do better than 2x GS 1x AP) and talenting for Rule of Threes. Then I remember that most things seem to be outdated anyways, and much of this may have changed. (Edit; also noting that I'm short on essences/levels of essences, so also adding the question, which ones should I be working towards?)
Third, mana rotation, I've seen it in the threads now multiple times that there seems to be some debate about conserve phases and whether or not I should be using Evo before a burn or to recover from one. I tend to stick to the latter, as what I'll generally do in a burn is using CDs, and burning to no mana, using AM procs after AP has ended, using PoM 2 seconds before AP ends, and then Evo back up to 100% (Abarr into CU) and then try to maintain 70% mana. Is this correct, or should I be doing mini burns when possible and expending that mana to 30-50%?
Fourth, weapons. Now, keeping in mind that I do try to sim everything, I got pretty "lucky" as it were, to obtain a 440 Seabreeze. Which is nice, has lots of Stam/Int, and a Haste proc, which is kind of cool, but has absolutely no secondary stats, and I feel like secondaries are almost more important than Int. Should be trying to complete a OneH/OffH, or trying for the Staff from Azshara, lower ilvl, more stats? I don't quite understand the jist of having a massive weapon that maybe gives haste here and there, considering how much more value crit/mastery would provide, or even Vers. (Raidbots puts Vers as my second highest DPS value secondary currently)
Fifth, and hopefully finally, the extra stats. I know sockets/leech are decent tertiary stats, but all I ever seem to get is Avoidance, how much more important would sockets be compared to ilvl. Some people have told me it's about 15 ilvls, and others state that a socket can outweigh nearly 50 ilvls. I would generally lean to 15, as 50 seems outlandish, but I'm here, so I may as well ask...
Thank you for reading, and hopefully I can be helped, as I've actually enjoyed most of my time back, though grinding out Pathfinder wasn't exactly "joyful".