Fire Mage Burnout

[Elderberry]

Wanted to start a thread for any of us feeling burnout right now. Here's why I am:

I am a loyal fire mage. It is my only character. That was a deliberate decision on my part to self-impose a kind of time budget, and I have no regrets. I still think the rotation and crit fishing is the kind of playstyle for me.

I came back to WoW after a long time away, since BC. Despite coming in right when the spec got nerfed, I have had a blast gradually increasing my skills at M+ and raiding with a guild. That said, I have definitely felt the uphill battle. Switching talents for each individual boss even when it is no longer progression, just to compete on the dps meter, anticipating the mechanics so that I can drain spells and increase aoe damage during raid bosses (not so much padding, more like helpful opportunism), and gear-set switching hotkeys galore. I think most of us can relate to the neccesity for learning our spec maybe better than other guildies learn theirs due to the trying position we are in as a pure DPS.

But I think I am starting to get burnt out, and I haven't been playing that much. [9-12hrs a week]

And I think it is not so much lack of content but the experience-arch of gear acquisition for fire mages.

What I mean by that is, after spending weeks and months with a focus on getting T19 4-pc, BiS NH trinkets, leggos, stacking haste and critical strike, even at 906-910 ilvl, I feel like I haven't arrived somewhere new. Maybe this is a sign of good balancing but I still feel like the rotation is so heavily RNG dependent that, at very high ilvls relative to content, we should be able to stack enough crit for our rotation to breakthrough dry spells and feel fluid.

I just wanted to start this thread for anyone who is also feeling burnout right now, for any reason. If you disagree with me, word. I'm just realizing that I think I am basically as advanced as I will get pre-tomb and it feels anti-climactic. It makes me less motivated to bring my best to my guild for Tomb.

[Makz]

Unfortunately Legion is setting the tone that you should commit to your class, not spec. They are enabling us to "master" all 3 specs by keeping Fire op, nerfing Fire and buffing Frost, then nerfing Frost and buffing Arcane on Argus.

If you stick to 1 spec you will probably still do good, but the cost will be higher and you will feel pressured playing an (overall) underperforming spec. And while a few players might be able to somehow pull the numbers with it, the question is should you keep aiming for that(and burning out at least a bit) or go with the flow and play spec of the month.

It kind of sucks that you cant play your favorite spec the whole time, but it also bring a bit of variety to the length of the expansion. If there was an opportunity for any player of any class to learn all their specs, Legion is the expansion to do so.

[Breit]

All I can say is: I feel you.
Seriously, if there aren't any changes coming to fire, I'm out after 12 years.

I tried frost recently because fire isn't just competitive in mythic raiding (even at 915 equipped), but soon realized that this isn't the spec for me, sorry. Even doing +100k DPS more on frost while totally unexperienced with the rotation and such still makes me want to switch back to fire. So that's my spec. Period.

So if Blizzard want's to force people into specs they don't like, thats fine. Sad but fine. Only that I'm not going to follow their route any longer...

[Burnthemall]

All I can say is: I feel you.
Seriously, if there aren't any changes coming to fire, I'm out after 12 years.

I tried frost recently because fire isn't just competitive in mythic raiding (even at 915 equipped), but soon realized that this isn't the spec for me, sorry. Even doing +100k DPS more on frost while totally unexperienced with the rotation and such still makes me want to switch back to fire. So that's my spec. Period.

So if Blizzard want's to force people into specs they don't like, thats fine. Sad but fine. Only that I'm not going to follow their route any longer...

You need to have faith I hope that they will buff us after first week of ToS. So they will be definetely some changes coming.

[bamsillo]

i fell you too bro, 6 legendarys, and still no bracers, u can imagine how SHIT i feel... and the sad thing is that im still hoping for them, even knowing that im still going to keep doing worst than the other specs...

[Delandel]

Still no bracers either.

I have a feeling like it's just too much work for the developers to have every spec perfectly lined up, so instead they just focus each patch on making a single non-tank spec viable, so each class has a spot in raids. I say non-tank because those only have 2 spots in raids. They do want us swapping between specs.

Fire had its time, and then they focused on making Frost be great, and eventually I'm sure Arcane will be great. And they expect us to swap to whatever spec they're currently pushing.

It's not a bad idea in theory. It also helps with this burnout you speak of, since you get to look forward to optimizing a new spec, a new style of play. The problem comes with the level of difficulty in swapping specs. Before 7.2 it was really tough grinding enough AP to max out multiple specs. Now in 7.2.5 it's easy enough to "max out" specs, but we still have the difficulty of getting the right legendaries for each spec. Hell, I don't even have the perfect Fire legendaries and it's all I play!

So what I'm saying ultimately is ... play something else. Obviously one spec will get tedious after months and months of constant playing, and Fire isn't exactly the most diverse rotation-wise either. We will get buffed at some point and you can return. Or maybe not. But don't play something if you don't like it!

Personally, I don't like how Arcane and Frost plays, and I'm also burned out with Fire. I'm currently gearing up an Ele Shaman as my new main for ToS. I don't really care about topping numbers (otherwise I'd NEVER pick shaman haha) but the rotation is enjoyable to me and I love pewpew lightning. It's the first time I've ever ditched Mage since TBC, since I've always played "wizard" in every single RPG since I can remember, but I think change is okay!

[minigavrin]

I hear that Elder, this is the first time I have played a mage for my main and due to time constraints I decided to focus on one spec and play it. The spec I chose was fire as I like the variety of rotation, timing, quick decision making and enjoy the spell effects. It does seem that fire is dependent on specific legendarys which are quite random and I do not think that is the best game design for any class/game. ( I will say I just got the bracers the other day). I can only hope that Blizz takes a look at that. Having your spec be last in line does not matter so much to me... it is just how far back in line you are. At the moment I think fire needs a boost as well. I will continue to play fire and am glad that for me, beating a meter is not as important as bringing down a boss. As long as a guild I run with can bring down bosses my fire mage will be part of that. But it does feel good to be able to know you are one of the chief contributors of that kill rather than ancillary.

[Arob1337]

I'm definitely a FireMage4Lyfe, but switching to frost has been refreshing.

I usually burn out on wow way before this far into an xpac, but this expansion is just too good to let it go yet. Playing the "FTM" will likely enable you to master all 3 specs for your class, and the transitions won't be as hard as everyone projected in the beginning of Legion.

So far I've enjoyed both Fire, and Frost. I hope that arcane gets some kind of QoL change and makes it a bit more interesting though... I don't much enjoy it where it sits currently.

[GamerBeast]

I completely understand all of you here, got all the fire legendaries except the bracers.... playing with KJ's and belt atm.

I know that fire isnt really high according to sims, but I will try and make it work until I get gear and legendaries for frost (got Icy Veins hands only) . It is quite refreshing playing frost from time to time, learning the spec etc. I can pretty much play fire blind how much I've been playing it haha

[gallamann]

For me Fire is the most fun playing with Helm (and AF talent) and belt legendary's.

Am trying Bracers, however my big issue with those is the RNG on them. Some pulls it feels like I should have upped Helm to 970 before bracers.

If I had to say which legendary was mandatory for fire, it would be the Belt. Never take the belt off.