Mage talent build

[Nyarko]

You dont take Improved CoC?

Then it's a matter of gameplay but I doubt improved blizzard is better than improved CoC

[Thrashing]

Damage versus CC. I don't play Mage to burst or nuke targets in PvP. I play Mage to annoy/CC the opposing team as much as possible.

I'd rather have an undispellable AoE slow than a flat 35% damage increase on a single spell that I often downrank for the purpose of CC anyway.

[Youfie]

Isn't Clearcasting suppposed to be a per-spell chance, rather than a per-tick ?

[Thrashing]

Isn't Clearcasting suppposed to be a per-spell chance, rather than a per-tick ?

Not that I'm aware of. I remember using Arcane Missiles often on retail because when you were almost oom it would give a higher chance to proc a clearcast than a simple frostbolt.

[Youfie]

Isn't Clearcasting suppposed to be a per-spell chance, rather than a per-tick ?

Not that I'm aware of. I remember using Arcane Missiles often on retail because when you were almost oom it would give a higher chance to proc a clearcast than a simple frostbolt.

Hum, I'm not too sure. I always thought this mechanic was a nasty bug on every private server.

And actually, looking at some movies from retail tends to prove there was only one hit per spell that could trigger the talent.

Like in this sequence from retail : Faxmonkey aoe-grinds 93 (yes, ninety three, bitches !) mobs at the same time.
There is absolutely 0 proc after a Frost Nova, a Flame Strike, a CoC and Arcane Explosion x3, then CoC again (failed, only hits one mob). This is only a few Arcane Explosions later that the talent procs for the first time. The fact that there are 93 mobs being hit by the spells (except for the first CoC ; and maybe not every aoe hits every single mob due to range or anything, but they still hit dozens) is proved right after in the video.

I'm too lazy to calculate the probability of Clearcasting being on a per-tick chance and still not procing on 93 targets x 6-8 spells lol, but it is definitely incredibly low.

Maybe Arcane Missiles triggers the talent in a different way as it is a channeled spell, but I couldn't find anything about this.

Never played a Mage on Nostalrius anyway, so I don't know exactly how it's scripted here. I'm not too worried because this is typically the kind of things that would have been carefully looked into by the devs. And if it's not fixed, well I hope Viper will see this and fixes it . The talent should have only one chance per spell to proc, and apparently a spell should hit at least one target to be able to trigger the talent.

[Netherfrost]

What seperates that in general is also the amount of hits per spell, now you've went through the AoE spells, but what also applies to AM and Blizz is that you hit multiple times per spell, not one hit on either single target or area based, but several hits (a channel) with one spell.

[Youfie]

What seperates that in general is also the amount of hits per spell, now you've went through the AoE spells, but what also applies to AM and Blizz is that you hit multiple times per spell, not one hit on either single target or area based, but several hits (a channel) with one spell.

(I'm actually not too sure if you're commenting this "per-tick vs. per-hit" thing or just continuing the thread about how a mage should use his spells in BG etc. - sorry I don't know Mage gameplay enough to know :p)

But just in case it's the first case, after a quick search it appears AM isn't supposed to behave differently than the other Mage spells.


"Only the first tick of AM can proc Clearcasting or Netherwind Focus."
(Elitist Jerks, 2006)

"Clearcasting can only proc on arcane missiles at the moment before the first missile where the mana is consumed, NOT on each missile individually."
(Wowwiki, 2008 ; found no evidence of change before this date)

Of course a definite and indisputable proof these statements are wrong would be a 2005-2006 retail video of an unique AM channelling trigerring Clearcasting twice. Or an unique AM channelling during which the talent procs on the second (third) tick while the first (and second) one(s) is (are) not resisted.
I personally failed to find any.

[Koopa]

Nice post Youfie, was going to say for clarification: It has a chance to proc on initial cast per mob afflicted, but not on individual ticks.

As for the talent build -- Improve blizzard is a must for PvP, and is even very useful for the earlier stages of progression. It is the ultimate crowd control on team fights (world bosses, group fights in BGs, etc.), and it can also be EXTREMELY useful for individual fights (i.e. getting rogues out of stealth). And yeah, you obviously use rank one (unless you use r1 arcane explosion or r1 blizzard to proc a clearcast for a max rank).

The utility alone beats out the damage from Imp. CoC with ease.

[Youfie]

Nice post Youfie, was going to say for clarification: It has a chance to proc on initial cast per mob afflicted, but not on individual ticks.

Hi Koopa,

If I'm not mistaken, your statement is about Blizzard (only channeled aoe spell right ?), and you're saying the first tick is count as [Number of afflicted target] spells regarding the Clearcasting talent. It works differently than what one might think based on what has been said before, as CC would become a "per-spell" proc on all spells except Blizzard, regarding which it would have a "per-targets of the first tick" proc chance ? This is kinda weird, but why not, if there are some sourced evidences to prove that .

[secondary]

Then it's a matter of gameplay

Its not. Or your playstyle sucks.

3/3 perma
3/3 blizz
0/3 piercing ice

Stronget slow in the game. Not dispellable. AoE. 30y+ range. LoS slow.