It’s going to be Spirit -> Crit rating, and it’s going to be via Molten Armor.
- Molten Armor now causes 170 Fire damage when hit for all ranks (Up from 75/130/170) and also increases your critical strike rating by 25% of your spirit.
- Glyph of Molten Armor – Your Molten Armor grants an additional 15% (40% total) of your spirit as critical strike rating.
That’s… neat, I guess? Now both major mage armors use spirit; one uses spirit for mana regen, the other for additional DPS. Mage Armor and Molten Armor are mirroring a Hunter’s primary aspects more and more every day…
But whatever. That’s design philosophy rambling. Let’s talk numbers.
Depending on how much spirit you have, this will work out to either be a nerf or a huge nerf. For simplicity’s sake, all the numbers from here on out are assuming the mage is using Glyph of Molten Armor, and is therefore gaining 40% of spirit as crit rating.
A mage needs 45.9 crit rating to gain an additional 1% critical strike chance. The 5% crit mages currently gain from Molten Armor is equivalent to 229.5 critical strike rating.
Therefore, a mage would need (229.5/.4=573.75) 574 spirit to gain the same amount of critical strike chance.
Take me, for instance. Unbuffed, I have 233 spirit. With this new conversion, that would give me 2% critical strike chance, or a loss of 3% compared to now.
Fully raid buffed, I have 398 spirit. With this new conversion, that would give me 3.5% critical strike chance. Effectively 3%, as Blizzard’s calculations only take into account full percentages. A nerf of 2%.
I’ll put it this way. If you have less than 574 spirit, you are being nerfed. If you have more than 574 spirit, you are being buffed.
For instance, if you have, say, 878 spirit fully raid buffed, Molten Armor will give you an additional 7% critical strike chance.
I hope everyone’s happy, we got exactly what we asked for. Hazzah for Spirit being useful! Thank the powers that be that there are still some pieces of gear left without spirit on them… just think of all that crit and haste you’re losing to put spirit on the gear instead!
Yes, even with this change, a spiritless item still provides superior DPS to an item with spirit (providing, of course, that they are the same iLevel).
Well, to be fair, mages did get exactly half of what we were promised spirit wise. Spirit isn’t useless anymore, though it’s hardly useful (it takes 115 spirit to gain 1% critical strike chance).
Honestly, though, we won’t be able to tell. There are so few pieces without spirit on it (and most of the ones that do either have hit or mp5 on them), most mages will end up wearing a ton of spirit whether they want it or not.
Don’t get me wrong. This is a solid step in the right direction. A good change, if you will. It just doesn’t fix anything.
Instead of a mage having one or two good options for gear, and everything else being useless crap, a mage now has one or two good options for gear, and everything else is useful crap.
Sure, we can use it, but it’s still crap.
There’s so much QQ in various forums right now, and it’s ironic that a blog with QQ in the name is looking at the bright side of this change. Keep it shiny, Rip.
I would say, pertaining to the loss in crit, that I’m glad I’m Arcane. However, hearing how Arcane’s performing in Ulduar, I refrain from saying such, for reasons in previous posts.
Meanwhile, have you seen the T8 bonuses?
2-piece: Your Arcane Blast, Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt, and Fireball spells all have a chance to grant you 350 spell power for 15 sec.
4-piece: You have a chance for the effect of your Missile Barrage, Hot Streak, or Brain Freeze talent not to be consumed when you cast the spells which benefit.
“Hey, look, ANOTHER Pyroblast!”
Also note that the 4-piece bonus takes a dump on Frost in a roundabout way; another Brain Freeze isn’t nearly as good as another Pyroblast or another Missile Barrage, when considering that the extra Fireball from BF isn’t talented and won’t proc Ignite (unless you’re stupid and didn’t go for TtW in Arcane).
Sadly, there isn’t a good way to make it better; Frost just doesn’t have that “bomb” spell like Arcane and Fire have.
Also, WTB Spirit>Haste conversion for Mage Armor.
I don’t like the sound of this. I know in the long term it may well be beneficial, but I think some mages will find their crit nerfed even more in the short term. The next patch is going to see people crit less, some people will crit a LOT less. Sigh. Spirit –> Haste, that I could get on board with. This just seems like a Nerf to me.
The T8 bonuses sound sexual though. GIEF!
Agreed that this is going to be a short term nerf, but only because we’ve been avoiding items with spirit on it like the bubonic plague. Looking at Ulduar loot tables you can count the number of spirit-free cloth items on the fingers of one head, so yes, we’re getting a ton of spirit whether we like it or not. Take into account Divine Spirit becoming a baseline priest spell, the increased availability of Improved Divine Spirit with Discipline becoming a more useful spec and the fact that Blessing of Kings just keeps scaling and we’re probably going to find this becomes a substantial buff in the medium to long term.
Perhaps even enough of a buff to make up for the smack in the face with the nerfbat that Improved Scorch took. Although with Warlocks (*spit*) getting the same effect from Improved Shadowbolt it just means we can scrap the Glyph of Scorch, take the Glyph of Living Bomb instead, spend the 5 talent points from Improved Scorch somewhere useful, never cast Scorch again and let the warlocks become the raid crit buff bitches.
Always a bright side!
I agree pewpew, and I think most mages will salvage something from this, it just isn’t the good news we’d been hoping for. In the long term this may well be of benefit to mages (and I’ll be very happy to not have to bother with Scorch anymore), but this still does feel like quite a nasty nerf over the head.
Wow…just when I was starting to enjoy playing my mage again. Why is that just when it gets fun, Blizz pulls the rug out? Why can’t they just leave us poor little mages alone? Don’t any of the Blizz developers play a mage?
I don’t know…
Anything will be good to Mages?
Spirit == crap
25% or 40% == crap
Mirror images just have 2.5k life.. == crap
Mirror images won’t cast Polymorf anymore == crap
Mages has been nerfed…
Are we OP?
/2 WTS Mage lvl 80
This change is pretty miserable for those of us who don’t raid. Fully raid-buffed happens very rarely in 5-mans, very rarely in PVP (even if your group has them, they’ll be purged or you’ll be killed), and never when solo. But yes, now the 2 purple gems we’re obligated to use will get us 2-3 crit rating, and you get something out of the spirit spellthread instead of the stamina one. Oh, and the stats to chest enchant now offers a 1-3 crit.
On the plus side for Wintergrasp junkies like myself, the shift to items with Sta/Int/Spi/SP + 1 combat rating will make PVP gear comparatively more attractive. Replacing a combat rating that would have been useful with resilience is a downgrade. Replacing it with spirit is, well, 25-40% of a downgrade.
Also, the glyph may or may not still be worth a glyph slot. By my maths, you get 1% crit per approx 300 spirit.
Apparently in the Blizzard lexicon, “interesting” equates to “slightly more useful than a slap to the face and about as insulting.”
On the other hand, I won’t feel quite so guilty for the odd times when I use mage armor and feel like I’m sacrificing so much.
Using spirit in the haste conversion would dampen the blow a bit.
This is all just a clever ploy to make the Student of the Mind talent look almost attractive.
Are they changing spirit to affect crit in other mechanics as well or just borking the Molten Armor?
Insulting is right. Spirit was never a stat mages in general had much interest in, and now not only is it being forced on us in gear, it’s being forced on us with one of our primary needs: crit.
It wouldn’t be so bad if it was implemented in a different way, via a glyph or talent or whatever, but in order to make Spirit “more interesting and useful” they decided the best way to deliver that was through an outright nerf to a vital skill. Not only that, but critical strike rating is still more useful (45.91 rating for 1% crit chance, vs. about 114 Spirit for that same 1% if glyphed – if I did my numbers correctly).
Spirit will still feel like wasted itemization on gear as near as I can tell. Not as useless, but only useful in the face of a bigger loss. Tack on the 5% crit loss to Improved Scorch, and for those of us around the 230 spirit mark, that’s a loss of 8% crit currently. Though they may have finally succeeded in nerfing Improved Scorch to the point it’s no longer worth taking. At least there’s glyph of Living Bomb – which will crit 8% less for me now anyway.
Spirit may be more useful, but now I detest it more than ever before.
Sorry, I usually don’t rant like this, but this is one change I have a really hard time stomaching.
Mages like spirirt now too? (OK like might be a bit strong wording-wise.) Welcome to the party, now you can roll on the caster items with everyone else!
Now elemental shaman just need to turn spirit into spell power (I know makes no more sense than spirit making more crit) and everyone can roll on everything.
Now if only Bliz could standardise away the class names and we’d all be the same 😉
Not a critical QQ, maybe just a normal QQ.
“getting the same effect from Improved Shadowbolt it just means we can scrap the Glyph of Scorch, take the Glyph of Living Bomb instead, spend the 5 talent points from Improved Scorch somewhere useful, never cast Scorch again and let the warlocks become the raid crit buff bitches.”
What a lot of Mages aren’t considering is that a majority of raiding Warlocks are 0-41-30 and don’t even use Shadowbolt. This spec goes down in Destruction for Emberstorm making Incinerate the primary nuke of choice, with a huge majority of them not even taking the Improved Shadowbolt talent.
As I see it, it all depends on what spec you are too.
I, like all fireball’n M.A.G.E’s, will be spec’ing out of that
pesky improved scorch,
and putting those points into Student of Mind.
This increases spirit by 10% for those of you who
don’t know the talent tree by heart.
Simpletons.
🙂
And to by absolutely fair, your spirit really doesn’t represent the average PvE raider’s (in my opinion). There are alot of PvP items in there, and some items are of questionable quality (No offense, at all. Just pointing out.) I’m not saying this to question your skill, obviously, just that the spirit you have may not be a good specimen.
I myself have 458 spirit, unbuffed.
With that amount, I would have 183 crit. or 3.99% crit.
However…
With Kings, add 10%. -503.8 spirit
Divine Spirit. 583.8 spirit
Mark of the Wild. 620 spirit
= 5.41002% crit
I’m sure I’m forgetting one buff or another, but I intentionally didn’t account for my Student of the Mind due to it being a talent, and improved MoTW even though I’m fairly sure most druids spec for it.
I do realize by gear is above the normal standard,
but I think this will turn into a buff in no time at all
for the masses.
Especially since I plan not to spec
for the BS 1% crit from scorch.
WTB desto lock instead?
Add that 1.35 second (from scorch) cast time saved to fireball.
It tastes…. good.
(On a side note, I think they will realize most mages will not spec for Improved Scorch and make it to where fireball has a X/X/X% chance to apply the 1% buff. Three talent points for a measly 1% seems stupid. Student of the mind <3)
Alot of people ranting here.
I think this will be a change for the better.
We have spirit, wither the lot of us like it or not.
There was a nerf, but there is potential for us as a class
to be buffed with gear getting better and better…
I think this change will ultimately bring Fireball spec on the top of the meters as well.
We shall see in due time, my fellow mages.
We shall see.
Oh, and yes, I’m an optimist.
Like I said in my post, yes it may seem like a nerf now, but it is a long term buff. If this new change comes live, then Molten Armor will now SCALE with our gear. That is a good thing.
With the way Blizz has been itemizing Spirit in our gear, we will keep seeing more and more Spirit, and the new Molten Armor will surpass the old one.
Me, I have 517 Spirit unbuffed with 1 point into Spirit of the Mind. I’m Fireball Spec, and picked up gear any of you would have picked up. Here is My Armory
Unbuffed I am at roughly 4.5% crit with the new Molten Armor and Glyph. If you add Divine Spirit, Blessing of Kings, and Mark of the Wild, I can easily be over 5% crit for Molten Armor.
This is speaking from a PvE stand point though. For PvP this would be horrible.
Yay… I get a .27% crit buff with full raid buffs.
Woopdefuckindo’
I hope blizzard accidentally opens up a can of whoopass while preparing dinner.
>=(
It is wonderful that this change scales with gear, but for 90% of the game before endgame raids (and most likely 99% of the player base playing a mage)it is a huge nerf. This just makes leveling and five man content that much more difficult for the aspiring mages. I would have preferred to see a reduction in the baseline crit of molten armor with an introduction of the crit scaling with spirit. End game this, may make sense, but not everyone is there.
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Well said Euripedes.
I’m just glad that their idea of making spirit more interesting was not to revert to the old evocation…
“increases your spirit-based mana regen by 400% for 8 seconds”
might’ve been 600%, it was changed just after I started playing a mage.
on the other hand, this truely sucks. makes me even more glad I’m arcane (and thus less crit based than, say, frostfire). but really bliz. stop nerfing a class that just barely makes the grade.
I’ve played mage my whole wow career. It’s my main and most of my alts. I listened to the whining about how op mages were for months and I never saw the op-ness in any of my mages – who were endlessly brutalized in pvp and left out of raids because other classes out dpsed and added utility I couldn’t match. We’ve suffered nerf after nerf for this imaginary op-ness when frankly we’re still on the bottom of the food chain. …and its no fun being everyone elses easy kill. I won’t be playing another class. I won’t be respeccing every time there is some major attempt to rebalance us into oblivion. Instead, I just won’t be playing.
Thanks for the breakdown of the “new” spirit.
@ Luthvian
Yeah, changing Evocation back to it’s old form would be… “gah” inducing at the very least.
@ Leftyleap
As depressing as it is, you’re welcome.
[…] at the Critical QQ blog crunches the numbers on Mage’s shift to Spirit according to the latest 3.1 PTR […]
Like Every other patch blizzard sat around thinking “How can we again dick mages in the ass while making the other classes think we OP’d them more”…
Invis? blizzard Public comments made it sound so good…Course Mages know its dam near useless.
Mana % cost? Course mages know that was bliz making things like blink and nova cost more.
Mirror Image? um Sounds So cool! Till ya relise they do maybe 200dps with 2.5k hp and Generally run the fuck somewhere Else other then what your fighting to the point they now wipe raids if used. Or! Even better! Stand still and do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
And now Spirit…. Sure bliz will make it Sound OP as usual, I have good gear (creeg on proudmoore) with an almost fun FFB spec which is huge on crit….poof dead spec.
Dead Account.
[…] at the Critical QQ blog crunches the numbers on Mage’s shift to Spirit according to the latest 3.1 PTR […]
[…] at the Critical QQ blog crunches the numbers on Mage’s shift to Spirit according to the latest 3.1 PTR […]
[…] at the Critical QQ blog crunches the numbers on Mage’s shift to Spirit according to the latest 3.1 PTR […]