Merry Christmas to all, and so forth.
Seriously, why are you here? It’s Christmas, go spend time with your friends and… yeah, I can’t say that with a straight face either. It’s WoW binging time, and I leveled a warlock from level 1 to 20 in seven hours. Why do I have a warlock? Cause I don’t have one yet. I have everything else, it’s high time I added a warlock to the mix.
Druid? Been there, done that, bored out of my mind.
Death Knight? Tried that, leveled that, twice, even twinked one. I miss 2H frost so much. *sniffle*
Hunter? Everyone has one. I dominated battlegrounds back when Aimed Shot had a cast time, and I manually wove every single Steady Shot. Haven’t really played it since Wrath shipped.
Everyone knows about my mage and paladin.
Priest? Yeah I got one o’ those thingies too. Discipline was rad, lately I’ve given shadow PvP a try. It was actually very strong, the only real issues was an ineffective snare and HUGE, and I do mean HUGE mana problems. This was before 3.3 though, so I have no idea what shadow priest PvP is like now.
I do know that there are a lot more spriests running around, and I suppose they’re a threat or something. I don’t really know, I just buff myself with Mage Armor and laugh at them.
Rogue? Got one of those too. One day I’ll have to sit down and actually devote some time to rogue PvP, because I am atrociously bad right now. Picture the worst rogue you’ve ever seen. Yeah, I’m worse than that.
Shaman? It’s resto. Totems are awesome. It feels like I need two or three keyboards to play one properly though.
Warrior? Warriors are overpowered. Just saying. Arms is by far the best designed tree in the game, and it shows. Reading the tricks and tools arms warriors have feels like reading a list of the best melee class abilities ever conceived.
So it’s time to add a warlock to that pedigree.
I forget, and can’t seem to find it, but somebody commented about how they think it’s totally rad that I’m always looking for new things to try and do. I’m almost positive it was in regards to one of my earlier “fire is fo pvpz luls” posts.
Yeah, I try new things a lot, I try wacky, out there “what the hell are you thinking” builds and combinations. For instance, I haven’t played frost for PvP for longer than about three days since patch 3.0 released despite it being the “best” pvp spec.
I played frost PvP season one through three, and that… that was it. Arena as a mage at all has a very distinct feeling of “been there, done that” and it’s boring.
I don’t try new classes or specs out of any altruistic desire to pass on what I learn. I don’t even try new classes or specs out of a selfish desire to increase my own skill set.
I try new classes and specs because I’m bored.
~=~
Earlier in WG I blinked and ducked around a corner to evocate, and literally one second later a fellow mage blinked and ducked around the exact same corner and evocated in nearly the exact same spot. It was a very weird moment. Say what you like about mages, we are damn good at fleeing battles.
Anyway, I wouldn’t really expect any half decent posts from this here blog until after New Years. I’m on vacay, people, I ain’t got time for silly things like sobriety. I kid, I kid, I hardly drink anything. Except when I do. I don’t even like the taste of alcohol, and I’m such a lightweight I get near completely smashed after about four coolers.
Continued thoughts on fire PvP:
Mana is gooood. No mana issues at all, that little problem has been fixed.
But I wonder how much of that comes from having Empowered Fire in my spec? I initially took the talent as part of the idea that I’d use fireball, perhaps frostfire bolt, in situations where nobody is paying attention to me. Then I’d just throw out a big, long-casting nuke and rough people up.
Completely unnecessary. If nobody is paying any attention to me, I can deal far, far more damage via scorches, living bomb, and all those other nasty tricks I have. An unmolested fire mage is an absolute GOD of unrestrained damage. Even the simple act of putting LB on something, then spamming scorch into their unresisting flesh results in huge damage very, very quickly.
Instant pyroblasts for 9k never get old. I can’t stop shouting “BOOM” or laughing when those things go off either. I used to complain about Lava Burst, but daaamn… at least you knew when a Lava Burst was coming. Pyroblast is like a ninja. A ninja on fire.
Anyway, so yeah. Empowered Fire is largely useless, dropping that crap.
As you probably know, I am engineer. This means I have five ways to interrupt a casted spell.
Counterspell, we all know and love. That’s one. I also have the Fireblast stun effect, which procs often enough to be reliable. Add in Blast Wave with its knockback effect, Dragon’s Breath with its disorient, and you have four viable interrupts to stop a spell from going off. Being an engineer, I also have a frag grenade every six minutes to throw into the mix as well.
You know that Paladin ability that let’s them become immune to interrupts? Yeah, totally doesn’t work on any of those, except Counterspell. Oh, and hey, you know how how Blast Wave and Dragon’s Breath aren’t stopped by silly things like Grounding Totems?
As expected, I’m really hurting for a proper snare, though.
Might I suggest adding a Desecration style effect to Flamestrike? It fits fire’s style perfectly, would give it a much needed snare, and it would even require some skill to use properly. What’s not to love?
What I like about WoW is when I’m trying something new, I have the option of doing it by myself. I get terribly nervous and disconcerted when I’m trying something completely new around people and me messing up could get them killed.
Also, I’m even worse than you with the alcohol thing. It all tastes nasty to me and I’m about to fall asleep after one cooler. So…I just don’t drink! XD
Also there is no family around right now, so it’s okay for me to be online. Right?
No family around? Bah humbug. What about us?
❤
THUS WHY I AM ONLINE.
I lol’d at “Pyroblast is like a ninja. A ninja on fire.”
Love the idea of Flamestrike snare. Would also add more reason to not stand in fire.
Merry Christmas 🙂
Flamestrike snare. It’s so perfect.
When I first thought of it, it fit so well I’ve actually caught myself thinking it’s already been patched into the game.
Bah. My favorite part about Fire is the lack of a snare.
None of this “ooh, lookit me, I’m a Frost mage with eighteen different snares and five survival cooldowns!” No endless “lulz, Slow” Arcmage kiting.
JUST THE RAW UNRESTRAINED FURY OF LIVING PRIMAL FLAME!!!!!
This whole “let’s see who can make who die faster” game is so much more appealing. Other mage specs have this feel of finesse, of controlling the fight, limiting the opposition, chopping off his options one by one until the only thing left is “die horribly”. Fire doesn’t DO finesse, it doesn’t DO subtlety, it doesn’t DO cutesy little tricks, it just does BOOM, HEADSHOT!!
In trouble? Frostmage Iceblocks, like a damn coward Paladin; Arcmage instant-Invises, like a damn sneaky Rogue; Firemage HITS YOU BACK WITH A WALL OF SEARING BURNING FLAMING PAIN OH MY GOD WAS THAT HALF YOUR HIT POINTS?!?!! YEAH!! YOU WANT MORE??? YOU WANT MOREEEE??? INSTANT FLAMESTRIKE, BITCH!!! I’M NOT GONNA LOCK YOU DOWN BECAUSE I DON’T NEED TO!! MY CRITS ARE BIGGER THAN YOUR CRITSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! AND NOW YOU’RE ON FIRE!!! HOW DOES THAT FEEL?? EAT A PYROBLAST!!!
…
Sorry, flashback.
I know nobody likes RNG, but Fire has enough of it to almost be reliable—between Blazing Speed, Impact, the disarm on Payback, Molten Shields and Hot Streak, one thing or another will proc up. Using those procs correctly feels much more rewarding than Frost or Arcane, both of which have resets, escapes, major cooldowns and endless kiting and a rather linear combo (Shatter or MBarr). Fire’s all about playing fast and loose, improvising, being vulnerable and strong at the same time, living on the edge because you’ve got no way out if you screw up. A true glass cannon.
Love it.
I want to have your internet babies.
I’d argue that fire already has a great deal of finesse to it. Blastwave, Dragon’s breath, fireblast stun, and so forth all deal lots of damage, yes, but they are all also control abilities.
Sure, fire strikes back with a searing wall of flame, but it’s also a wall of flame with a 6 second disorient that breaks on damage attached to it. Or a wall of flame that knocks your enemies away and gives them an undispellable daze effect.
I’d also argue against the glass cannon perspective. A fire mage’s defenses aren’t as good as a frost mage, but they’re at least as good as an arcane mage’s, perhaps better. Arcane doesn’t get an anti-execute mechanic or a disarm, for example.
I’d also also argue that finesse is the entire point of the mage class in PvP, regardless of spec.
I’d argue all of that and more, but your “SET EVERYTHING ON FIRE AND WATCH IT BURN” argument was just too good.
I dueled me DK friend and even he, in his mighty near 1k resilience, frost presence, and 35k HP said “… WOW that’s a lot of damage.”
Also, does anyone else scream “THE WORLD’S ON FIUH” every time they use flamestrike? No? Just me?
I suppose that’s my point. Fire requires thought and finesse (what PVP spec doesn’t, at a high level?) but it feels like the grace and beauty of a comet streaking down to obliterate the continent, ya know?
I haven’t unbound my Polymorph button or benched Ice Block. But when the goal feels less like “control the fight, limit the foe, Slow and Chill until we can go for the throat” and more like “AHAHAHAHAHAA KILL THE BASTARD!! OH LOOK SOMETHING PROCCED—KILL HIM TWICE!!” well, it’s a rush. It’s unpredictable and volatile and not like Frost at all. It’s not measured or calculating—not in the same way. Even against the same class/spec, every fight will be different.
I guess it helps that Fire’s control is all short ranged. It’s always fun to blink up to a Warlock charging his Chaos Bolt and blast him into confused oblivion. Anyway smacking people around with explosions ‘n’ throwing their spells back in their faces is way cooler than just disappearing.
For my part, I’ve been known to yell “LIGHT ME UP, BUTTERCUP!!” and sometimes “THE FURY!!” on Hot Streak procs.
I’m going to write in a /cackle to my Pyroblast macro.
I’ve been away from the pvp scene for a bit, and I hear arms is pretty overpowered.
Well, I’m here to tell you the secret weakness of arms. Unless you’re real good and put all the right stance-switching macros on your bar, Arms is real weak versus casters (especially ones who can blink) and against root/snare (only prot can break out). Force him to blow his spell reflect (maybe juke it and ice lance or something) and proceed to put him on the defensive or blow him up.
Watch out though if some Priest or Paladin gets wise to your ways and starts mashing their dispel key.
All joking aside, I think Arms is perfectly designed. It isn’t overpowered, it isn’t underpowered, it is absolutely perfect. Every PvP spec should be designed as well as Arms is.
Prot, on the other hand…
Just wanted to say “Happy Christmas, ‘Rip”! And to let you know I’ve almost forgiven you for the Twisted Nether thing. Almost 😉
and Happy Christmas, fellow QQers!
But I haaaaad to raid haaaardmooooodes. D:
I absolutely am loving fire PVP. I get my Druid friend to spam heals on me and I just leave charred corpses around. I missed setting things on fire after respecing for raids.
Now I get to enjoy 2 things while PVPing, blowing things up and watching Allies melt!
Preach it brother!
Alone, fire deals a lot of damage. With a healer devoted to keeping you alive? Your damage is absolutely catastrophic.
Arcanes damage left alone is far greater then fire. When I’m spec’d 57/3/11 I just pop my Icy Veins AP, Scale of fates macro and spam arcane blast on enemies and I rarely even get to 4 stacks on one target, the most it usually takes is 3, and after that dies I switch to another target with 3 stacks up then I crit him for 15k followed by arcane missles or arcane barrage, and then thats dead. Rinse and repeat.
With fire I find the most damage you can get is by spamming living bomb on as many people as possible. Scorch and pyroblast damage really is not that much.
Boredom is the best motivation.
I’ve had exams the last few weeks. I’ve never spent that much time on wow in 3 weeks before.
Anyway, your experiments are amazing. I’m pretty new to pvp and I know frost is ‘the’ PvP spec. My shaman friend still thinks I’m nuts for not using it. Instead I’ve tried your arcane shatter and loved it. Gave a pretty good feeling as a PvP nub to be in the top of the list and killing stuff, rather then dieing.
Now I’m trying the fire pvp aswell. And BOOM! It’s awesome. 🙂
I kinda miss slow. But never being fire before (leveled as frost, raid as arcane) setting things on fire and seeing the living bombs die while they run away is something I wouldn’t want to miss.
So.. Hooza for Euripides 😀
I miss Slow no matter what spec I am. An instant super powerful snare with ridiculous range? Best spell ever.
Fire IS fun to play. My mage’s best gear is from like 3 naxx25 pugs that I just barely survived back in 3.0 and even with just that he’s pretty competitive in battlegrounds. Not OP. Competitive.
I miss manually weaving every single Steady Shot.
And I am 100% serious.
I’ve actually had this game since 2004 and didn’t get past a level 60 until this year. My first 80 was a fire mage… and I’m never looking back, leveled him fire… play him fire. It was so much joy to see my wife think me and her were done for when we pulled more than expected of mobs only to finally open her eyes and see fissured fire engulfed ground and 10 corpses surrounding my mage.
I was playing around with my lock some. I’m still leveling him so there is not much to say. He’s been a back-burner project for a while. Demonology is great for leveling. You get your own personal tank. What is not to love in that?
Druids are boring? I love mine. Need a healer? Gotcha covered. Need a tank? Gotcha covered. Need some dps? Let me go get another toon.
DKs are boring. Great for farming which is to say mine is a bore.
Hunter? Yep, got one. He was my original main raider but I got tired of playing him. So he is pretty much parked.
My mage is the current work in progress. Well, when I’m not raiding. So, sort of a work in progress. Its how I ended up finding this blog.
Got a paladin too. Another quasi back burner project.
Shadow priest + battle ground + beer is waaayyyyy too much fun. So much fun I’m going to try a disc healing build. WTF? It is not even close to the same.
Mana problems? Umm, err, not really. Not unless I find myself in one helluva furball.
Rogue? Another quasi project. I’m really good at getting mine killed. Especially in PVP. I must not be doing it right.
Shaman. Yeh, he’s level 22 and not going anywhere soon. I just can’t get into playing them.
Warriors are OP? Since when? I get my warrior killed more often than my rogue. And I switched him to an arms spec. I can’t play him for more than a few minutes before becoming fustrated with it. He is another toon that is perpetually parked.
Coolers? How about single malt scotch instead. Muaaahahahahahaha!!!!
Hey, man. Also leveling a ‘lock. Definitely awesome to level as Demo. I’m a bit scared and excited about what’s to come once I hit 80.
And druid DPS isn’t THAT bad if you gear yourself all proper like. It’s certainly not ideal… but yeah, they do make better tanks or heals.
I hear you on the Shaman. Mine’s at 16. Can’t seem to get into him yet. I hear they’re much more enjoyable at higher levels. I really hope so, because I wanna be like Thrall. 🙂
My warlock is leveling destruction. Still in the twenties, but somehow casting huge nukes is far more satisfying than throwing around DoTs.
It definitely is. I’m leveling my lock with the girlfriend’s shadow priest. The mobs don’t stay up long enough for the DoT’s to fully expire.
That said, it’s still pretty awesome to go in with two clothies on a quest that suggests 3 or 4 people – Send in the felguard, let him get some aggro and get slapped around a bit, then DoT up the baddie and watch him fall.
Solod Knucklerot at level 16.
/flex
you, gnomeageddon, and archmage pants all make me so damn proud to be a fire mage. here’s to many burning bodies in 2010. /clink!
Note to self: If you’re getting a certain toon killed a lot then maybe it would help to read up a little about the class to see what you’re doing wrong.
A new spec and a new rotation did wonders for the warrior.
Don’t forget gear! Warriors depend on their gear to be effective more than any other class in the game.
With full BtA gear, the bloodied arcanite reaper complete with crusader, you will quite literally stomp all over everything in your path.
Been leveling a Night Elf warrior, 49 atm, I pretty much kill everything with Kang (no BoA gear since main is DPS and getting into randoms as DPS takes forever and my tank friends are done with their mark collecting)
My only weakness at the moment are good hunters and shadow priests (Not enough rage, Not enough rage, Not enough rage.. finally! I broke the shield.. FFFUUU I’m dead)
Happy New Year Euri
[…] I read you have cast off the Frosty and Arcane specs to return to Fire. 3.3 was good to us. I was so looking forward to the 3.3 changes that I dumped my dubious raid […]
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